w 


*rt  *  •  *****  *<^„ 

PRINCETON,    N.    J.  * 


Shelf. 


BL  2720  .A4  G6  1878 
Ingersoll,  Robert  Green, 

1833-1899. 
The  gods,  and  other  lecture 


G 


HE    UODS 


AND    OTHER    LECTURES. 


V 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll. 


Give  me  the  storm  and  tempest  of  thought  and  action,  rather  than  the 
dead  calm  of  ignorance  and  faith.  danish  me  from  eden  when  you  will;  cut 
first  let  me  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge. 


WASHINGTON,    D.  C: 
C.    P.    FARRELL,    PUBLISHER. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

ROBERT   G.   INGERSOLL, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TO 


EVA  A.  INGERSOLL, 


MY   WIFE, 


A   WOMAN   WITHOUT   SUPERSTITION, 


THIS  VOLUME 


IS  DEDICATED. 


PREFACE 


FOR  THE    USE   OF    MAN. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  GODS, 7 

An  Honest  God  is  the  Noblest  Work  of  Man. 

HUMBOLDT, -       91 

The  Universe  is  Governed  b\  Law. 

THOMAS  PAINE, 121 

With  His  Name  Left  Out,  the  History  of  Liberty 
Cannot  be  Written. 

INDIVIDUALITY, 169 

His  Soul  was  like  a  Star  and  Dwelt  Apart. 

HERETICS  AND  HERESIES,  -     209 

Liberty,  a  Word  without  which  all  other  Words 
are  Vain. 


THE    GODS 


THE  GODS 


An  Honest  God  is  the  Noblest  Work  of  Man. 

EACH  nation  has  created  a  god,  and  the  god 
has  always  resembled  his  creators.  He 
hated  and  loved  what  they  hated  and  loved,  and 
he  was  invariably  found  on  the  side  of  those  in 
power.  Each  god  was  intensely  patriotic,  and 
detested  all  nations  but  his  own.  All  these  gods 
demanded  praise,  flattery,  and  worship.  Most  of 
them  were  pleased  with  sacrifice,  and  the  smell 
of  innocent  blood  has  ever  been  considered  a 
divine  perfume.  All  these  gods  have  insisted 
upon  having  a  vast  number  of  priests,  and  the 
priests  have  always  insisted  upon  being  supported 
by  the  people,  and  the  principal  business  of  these 
priests  has  been  to  boast  about  their  god,  and  to 
insist  that  he  could  easily  vanquish  all  the  other 
gods  put  together. 


8  THE   GODS. 


These  gods  have  been  manufactured  after 
numberless  models,  and  according  to  the  most 
grotesque  fashions.  Some  have  a  thousand  arms, 
some  a  hundred  heads,  some  are  adorned  with 
necklaces  of  living  snakes,  some  are  armed  with 
clubs,  some  with  sword  and  shield,  some  with 
bucklers,  and  some  have  wings  as  a  cherub ;  some 
were  invisible,  some  would  show  themselves  entire, 
and  some  would  only  show  their  backs;  some 
were  jealous,  some  were  foolish,  some  turned 
themselves  into  men,  some  into  swans,  some  into 
bulls,  some  into  doves,  and  some  into  Holy  Ghosts, 
and  made  love  to  the  beautiful  daughters  of  men. 
Some  were  married  —  all  ou^ht  to  have  been — • 
and  some  were  considered  as  old  bachelors  from 
all  eternity.  Some  had  children,  and  the  children 
were  turned  into  gods  and  worshiped  as  their 
fathers  had  been.  Most  of  these  gods  were 
revengeful,  savage,  lustful,  and  ignorant.  As  they 
generally  depended  upon  their  priests  for  infor- 
mation, their  ignorance  can  hardly  excite  our 
astonishment. 

These  gods  did  not  even  know  the  shape  of 
the  worlds  they  had  created,  but  supposed  them 
perfectly  flat.     Some    thought    the   day  could   be 


THE   GODS. 


lengthened  by  stopping  the  sun,  that  the  blowing 
of  horns  could  throw  down  the  walls  of  a  city, 
and  all  knew  so  little  of  the  real  nature  of  the 
people  they  had  created,  that  they  commanded 
the  people  to  love  them.  Some  were  so  ignorant 
as  to  suppose  that  man  could  believe  just  as  he 
might  desire,  or  as  they  might  command,  and  that 
to  be  governed  by  observation,  reason,  and  experi- 
ence was  a  most  foul  and  damning  sin.  None  of 
these  gods  could  give  a  true  account  of  the  crea- 
tion of  this  little  earth.  All  were  wofully  deficient 
in  geology  and  astronomy.  As  a  rule,  they  were 
most  miserable  legislators,  and  as  executives,  they 
were  far  inferior  to  the  average  of  American 
presidents. 

These  deities  have  demanded  the  most  abject 
and  degrading  obedience.  In  order  to  please 
them,  man  must  lay  his  very  face  in  the  dust 
Of  course,  they  have  always  been  partial  to  the 
people  who  created  them,  and  have  generally 
shown  their  partiality  by  assisting  those  people 
to  rob  and  destroy  others,  and  to  ravish  their 
wives  and  daughters. 

Nothing  is  so  pleasing  to  these  gods  as  the 
butchery    of    unbelievers.      Nothing    so    enrages 


10  THE   GODS. 


them,  even  now,  as  to  have  some  one  deny  their 
existence. 

Few  nations  have  been  so  poor  as  to  have  but 
one  god.  Gods  were  made  so  easily,  and  the  raw 
material  cost  so  little,  that  generally  the  god  mar- 
ket was  fairly  glutted,  and  heaven  crammed  with 
these  phantoms.  These  gods  not  only  attended  to 
the  skies,  but  were  supposed  to  interfere  in  all  the 
affairs  of  men.  They  presided  over  everybody  and 
everything.  They  attended  to  every  department. 
All  was  supposed  to  be  under  their  immediate  con- 
trol. Nothing  was  too  small  —  nothing  too  large; 
the  falling  of  sparrows  and  the  motions  of  the 
planets  were  alike  attended  to  by  these  industrious 
and  observing  deities.  From  their  starry  thrones 
they  frequently  came  to  the  earth  for  the  purpose 
of  imparting  information  to  man.  It  is  related  of 
one  that  he  came  amid  thunderings  and  lightnings 
in  order  to  tell  the  people  that  they  should  not 
cook  a  kid  in  its  mothers  milk.  Some  left  their 
shining  abodes  to  tell  women  that  they  should,  or 
should  not,  have  children,  to  inform  a  priest  how 
to  cut  and  wear  his  apron,  and  to  give  directions 
as  to  the  proper  manner  of  cleaning  the  intestines 
of  a  bird. 


THE   GODS.  11 


When  the  people  failed  to  worship  one  of  these 
gods,  or  failed  to  feed  and  clothe  his  priests,  (which 
was  much  the  same  thing,)  he  generally  visited 
them  with  pestilence  and  famine.  Sometimes  he 
allowed  some  other  nation  to  drag  them  into  slav- 
ery—  to  sell  their  wives  and  children ;  but  gen- 
erally he  glutted  his  vengeance  by  murdering  their 
first-born.  The  priests  always  did  their  whole 
duty,  not  only  in  predicting  these  calamities,  but  in 
proving,  when  they  did  happen,  that  they  were 
brought  upon  the  people  because  they  had  not 
given  quite  enough  to  them. 

These  gods  differed  just  as  the  nations  differed  ; 
the  greatest  and  most  powerful  had  the  most  pow- 
erful gods,  while  the  weaker  ones  were  obliged  to 
content  themselves  with  the  very  off-scourings  of  the 
heavens.  Each  of  these  gods  promised  happiness 
here  and  hereafter  to  all  his  slaves,  and  threatened 
to  eternally  punish  all  who  either  disbelieved  in  his 
existence  or  suspected  that  some  other  god  might 
be  his  superior ;  but  to  deny  the  existence  of  all 
gods  was,  and  is,  the  crime  of  crimes.  Redden 
your  hands  with  human  blood ;  blast  by  slander  the 
fair  fame  of  the  innocent ;  strangle  the  smiling 
child  upon  its  mother's  knees ;  deceive,  ruin  and 


12  THE  GODS. 


desert  the  beautiful  girl  who  loves  and  trusts  you, 
and  your  case  is  not  hopeless.  For  all  this,  and  for 
all  these  you  may  be  forgiven.  For  all  this,  and  for 
all  these,  that  bankrupt  court  established  by  the 
gospel,  will  give  you  a  discharge ;  but  deny  the  ex- 
istence of  these  divine  ghosts,  of  these  gods,  and 
the  sweet  and  tearful  face  of  Mercy  becomes  livid 
with  eternal  hate.  Heaven's  golden  gates  are  shut, 
and  you,  with  an  infinite  curse  ringing  in  your  ears, 
with  the  brand  of  infamy  upon  your  brow,  com- 
mence your  endless  wanderings  in  the  lurid  gloom 
of  hell  —  an  immortal  vagrant  —  an  eternal  outcast 
—  a  deathless  convict. 

One  of  these  gods,  and  one  who  demands  our 
love,  our  admiration  and  our  worship,  and  one  who 
is  worshiped,  if  mere  heartless  ceremony  is  worship, 
gave  to  his  chosen  people  for  their  guidance,  the 
following  laws  of  war :  "  When  thou  comest  nigh 
unto  a  city  to  fight  against  it,  then  proclaim  peace 
unto  it.  And  it  shall  be  if  it  make  thee  answer 
of  peace,  and  open  unto  thee,  then  it  shall  be 
that  all  the  people  that  is  found  therein  shall  be 
tributaries  unto  thee,  and  they  shall  serve  thee. 
And  if  it  will  make  no  peace  with  thee,  but  will 
make  war  against  thee,  then  thou  shalt  besiege  it 


THE   GODS.  13 


And  when  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  delivered  it  into 
thy  hands,  thou  shalt  smite  every  male  thereof  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword.  But  the  women  and  the 
little  ones,  and  the  cattle,  and  all  that  is  in  the  city, 
even  all  the  spoil  thereof,  shalt  thou  take  unto  thy- 
self, and  thou  shalt  eat  the  spoil  of  thine  enemies 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  thee.  Thus 
shalt  thou  do  unto  all  the  cities  which  are  very  far 
off  from  thee,  which  are  not  of  the  cities  of  these 
nations.  But  of  the  cities  of  these  people  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  doth  give  thee  for  an  inheritance, 
thou  shalt  save  alive  nothing  that  breatheth" 

Is  it  possible  for  man  to  conceive  of  anything 
more  perfectly  infamous  ?  Can  you  believe  that 
such  directions  were  given  by  any  being  except  an 
infinite  fiend  ?  Remember  that  the  army  receiving 
these  instructions  was  one  of  invasion.  Peace  was 
offered  upon  condition  that  the  people  submitting 
should  be  the  slaves  of  the  invader;  but  if  any 
should  have  the  courage  to  defend  their  homes, 
to  fight  for  the  love  of  wife  and  child,  then  the 
sword  was  to  spare  none  —  not  even  the  prattling, 
dimpled  babe. 

And  we  are  called  upon  to  worship  such  a 
god;   to  get  upon  our  knees  and  tell  him  that  he 


U  THE   GODS. 


is  good,  that  he  is  merciful,  that  he  is  just,  that 
he  is  love.  We  are  asked  to  stifle  every  noble 
sentiment  of  the  soul,  and  to  trample  under  foot 
all  the  sweet  charities  of  the  heart.  Because  we 
refuse  to  stultify  ourselves  —  refuse  to  become 
liars  —  we  are  denounced,  hated,  traduced  and  os- 
tracized here,  and  this  same  god  threatens  to  tor- 
ment us  in  eternal  fire  the  moment  death  allows 
him  to  fiercely  clutch  our  naked  helpless  souls. 
Let  the  people  hate,  let  the  god  threaten  —  we 
will  educate  them,  and  we  will  despise  and  defy 
him. 

The  book,  called  the  bible,  is  filled  with  pas- 
sages equally  horrible,  unjust  and  atrocious.  This 
is  the  book  to  be  read  in  schools  in  order  to  make 
our  children  loving,  kind  and  gentle  !  This  is  the 
book  to  be  recognized  in  our  Constitution  as  the 
source  of  all  authority  and  justice  ! 

Strange !  that  no  one  has  ever  been  persecuted 
by  the  church  for  believing  God  bad,  while  hun- 
dreds of  millions  have  been  destroyed  for  thinking 
him  good.  The  orthodox  church  never  will  forgive 
the  Universalist  for  saying  "  God  is  love."  It  has 
always  been  considered  as  one  of  the  very  highest 
evidences  of  true  and  undefiled  religion  to  insist 


THE   GODS.  15 


that  all  men,  women  and  children  deserve  eternal 
damnation.  It  has  always  been  heresy  to  say, 
"  God  will  at  last  save  all." 

We  are  asked  to  justify  these  frightful  passages, 
these  infamous  laws  of  war,  because  the  bible  is 
the  word  of  God.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  never 
was,  and  there  never  can  be,  an  argument,  even 
tending  to  prove  the  inspiration  of  any  book  what- 
ever. In  the  absence  of  positive  evidence,  analogy 
and  experience,  argument  is  simply  impossible,  and 
at  the  very  best,  can  amount  only  to  a  useless  agita- 
tion of  the  air.  The  instant  we  admit  that  a  book 
is  too  sacred  to  be  doubted,  or  even  reasoned  about, 
we  are  mental  serfs.  It  is  infinitely  absurd  to  sup- 
pose that  a  god  would  address  a  communication  to 
intelligent  beings,  and  yet  make  it  a  crime,  to  be 
punished  in  eternal  flames,  for  them  to  use  their 
intelligence  for  the  purpose  of  understanding  his 
communication.  If  we  have  the  right  to  use  our 
reason,  we  certainly  have  the  right  to  act  in  accord- 
ance with  it,  and  no  god  can  have  the  right  to 
punish  us  for  such  action. 

The  doctrine  that  future  happiness  depends 
upon  belief  is  monstrous.  It  is  the  infamy  of 
infamies.     The  notion  that  faith   in   Christ  is  to 


16  THE   GODS. 


be  rewarded  by  an  eternity  of  bliss,  while  a  de- 
pendence upon  reason,  observation,  and  expe- 
rience merits  everlasting  pain,  is  too  absurd  for 
refutation,  and  can  be  relieved  only  by  that  un- 
happy mixture  of  insanity  and  ignorance,  called 
"  faith."  What  man,  who  ever  thinks,  can  believe 
that  blood  can  appease  God  ?  And  yet,  our  entire 
system  of  religion  is  based  upon  that  belief.  The 
Jews  pacified  Jehovah  with  the  blood  of  animals, 
and  according  to  the  Christian  system,  the  blood 
of  Jesus  softened  the  heart  of  God  a  little,  and 
rendered  possible  the  salvation  of  a  fortunate  few. 
It  is  hard  to  conceive  how  the  human  mind  can 
give  assent  to  such  terrible  ideas,  or  how  any 
sane  man  can  read  the  bible  and  still  believe  in 
the  doctrine  of  inspiration. 

Whether  the  bible  is  true  or  false,  is  of  no 
consequence  in  comparison  with  the  mental  free- 
dom of  the  race. 

Salvation  through  slavery  is  worthless.  Salva- 
tion from  slavery  is  inestimable. 

As  long  as  man  believes  the  bible  to  be  infalli- 
ble, that  book  is  his  master.  The  civilization 
of  this  century  is  not  the  child  of  faith,  but  of 
unbelief — the  result  of  free  thought. 


THE  GODS.  17 


All  that  is  necessary,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to 
convince  any  reasonable  person  that  the  bible  is 
simply  and  purely  of  human  invention  —  of  bar- 
barian invention  —  is  to  read  it.  Read  it  as  you 
would  any  other  book ;  think  of  it  as  you  would 
of  any  other ;  get  the  bandage  of  reverence  from 
your  eyes ;  drive  from  your  heart  the  phantom 
of  fear ;  push  from  the  throne  of  your  brain  the 
cowled  form  of  superstition  —  then  read  the  holy 
bible,  and  you  will  be  amazed  that  you  ever,  for 
one  moment,  supposed  a  being  of  infinite  wisdom, 
goodness  and  purity,  to  be  the  author  of  such 
ignorance  and  of  such  atrocity. 

Our  ancestors  not  only  had  their  god-factories, 
but  they  made  devils  as  wrell.  These  devils  were 
generally  disgraced  and  fallen  gods.  Some  had 
headed  unsuccessful  revolts  ;  some  had  been  caught 
sweetly  reclining  in  the  shadowy  folds  of  some 
fleecy  cloud,  kissing  the  wife  of  the  god  of  gods. 
These  devils  generally  sympathized  with  man. 
There  is  in  regard  to  them  a  most  wonderful 
fact:  In  nearly  all  the  theologies,  mythologies 
and  religions,  the  devils  have  been  much  more 
humane  and  merciful  than  the  gods.  No  devil 
ever   gave    one  of   his   generals  an   order  to  kill 

2 


18  THE   GODS. 


children  and  to  rip  open  the  bodies  of  pregnant 
women.  Such  barbarities  were  always  ordered  by 
the  good  gods.  The  pestilences  were  sent  by  the 
most  merciful  gods.  The  frightful  famine,  during 
which  the  dying  child  with  pallid  lips  sucked  the 
withered  bosom  of  a  dead  mother,  was  sent  by 
the  loving  gods.  No  devil  was  ever  charged  with 
such  fiendish  brutality. 

One  of  these  gods,  according  to  the  account, 
drowned  an  entire  world,  with  the  exception  of 
eight  persons.  The  old,  the  young,  the  beautiful 
and  the  helpless  were  remorsely  devoured  by  the 
shoreless  sea.  This,  the  most  fearful  tragedy 
that  the  imagination  of  ignorant  priests  ever  con- 
ceived, was  the  act,  not  of  a  devil,  but  of  a  god, 
so-called,  whom  men  ignorantly  worship  unto  this 
day.  What  a  stain  such  an  act  would  leave  upon 
the  character  of  a  devil !  One  of  the  prophets 
of  one  of  these  gods,  having  in  his  power  a  cap- 
tured king,  hewed  him  in  pieces  in  the  sight  of 
all  the  people.  Was  ever  any  imp  of  any  devil 
guilty  of  such  savagery? 

One  of  these  gods  is  reported  to  have  given 
the  following  directions  concerning  human  slavery : 
"If  thou    buy  a  Hebrew  servant,  six  years  shall 


THE  GODS.  19 


he  serve,  and  in  the  seventh  he  shall  go  out  free 
for  nothing.  If  he  came  in  by  himself,  he  shall 
go  out  by  himself;  if  he  were  married,  then  his 
wife  shall  go  out  with  him.  If  his  master  have 
given  him  a  wife,  and  she  have  borne  him  sons 
or  daughters,  the  wife  and  her  children  shall  be 
her  master's,  and  he  shall  go  out  by  himself.  And 
if  the  servant  shall  plainly  say,  I  love  my  master, 
my  wife  and  my  children  ;  I  will  not  go  out  free. 
Then  his  master  shall  bring  him  unto  the  judges  ; 
he  shall  also  bring  him  unto  the  door,  or  unto 
the  door-post ;  and  his  master  shall  bore  his  eat 
through  with  an  awl ;  and  he  shall  serve  him  for- 
ever." 

According  to  this,  a  man  was  given  liberty  upon 
condition  that  he  would  desert  forever  his  wife  and 
children.  Did  any  devil  ever  force  upon  a  hus- 
band, upon  a  father,  so  cruel  and  so  heartless  an 
alternative?  Who  can  worship  such  a  god?  Who 
can  bend  the  knee  to  such  a  monster  ?  Who  can 
pray  to  such  a  fiend  ? 

All  these  gods  threatened  to  torment  forever 
the  souls  of  their  enemies.  Did  any  devil  ever 
make  so  infamous  a  threat  ?  The  basest  thing  re- 
corded of  the  devil,  is  what  he  did  concerning  Job 


20  THE   GODS. 


and  his  family,  and  that  was  done  by  the  express 
permission  of  one  of  these  gods,  and  to  decide  a 
little  difference  of  opinion  between  their  serene 
highnesses  as  to  the  character  of"  my  servant  Job." 
The  first  account  we  have  of  the  devil  is  found 
in  that  purely  scientific  book  called  Genesis,  and  is 
as  follows:  "-Now  the  serpent  was  more  subtile 
than  any  beast  of  the  field  which  the  Lord  God 
had  made,  and  he  said  unto  the  woman,  Yea,  hath 
God  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden  ?  And  the  woman  said  unto  the  ser- 
pent, We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the 
garden  ;  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not 
eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die. 
And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall 
not  surely  die.  For  God  doth  know  that  in  the 
day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened 
and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil. 
And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good 
for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and 
a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took 
of  the  fruit  thereof  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also 
unto  her  husband  with  her,  and  he  did  eat.  *  * 
And  the  Lord  God  said,  Behold  the  man   is  be- 


THE  GODS.  21 


come  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil ;  and 
now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of 
the  tree  of  life  and  eat,  and  live  forever.  There- 
fore the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden 
of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from  which  he  was 
taken.  So  he  drove  out  the  man,  and  he  placed 
at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  cherubim  and 
a  flaming  sword,  which  turned  every  way  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life." 

According  to  this  account  the  promise  of  the 
devil  was  fulfilled  to  the  very  letter.  Adam  and 
Eve  did  not  die,  and  they  did  become  as  gods,  know- 
ing good  and  evil. 

The  account  shows,  however,  that  the  gods 
dreaded  education  and  knowledge  then  just  as  they 
do  now.  The  church  still  faithfully  guards  the 
dangerous  tree  of  knowledge,  and  has  exerted  in 
all  ages  her  utmost  power  to  keep  mankind  from 
eating  the  fruit  thereof.  The  priests  have  never 
ceased  repeating  the  old  falsehood  and  the  old 
threat:  "Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye 
touch  it,  lest  ye  die."  From  every  pulpit  comes  the 
same  cry,  born  of  the  same  fear :  "  Lest  they  eat 
and  become  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil."  For 
this  reason,  religion  hates  science,  faith  detests  rea- 


22  THE  GODS. 


son,  theology  is  the  sworn  enemy  of  philosophy, 
and  the  church  with  its  flaming  sword  still  guards 
the  hated  tree,  and  like  its  supposed  founder,  curses 
to  the  lowest  depths  the  brave  thinkers  who  eat 
and  become  as  gods. 

If  the  account  given  in  Genesis  is  really  true, 
ought  we  not,  after  all,  to  thank  this  serpent?  He 
was  the  first  schoolmaster,  the  first  advocate  of 
learning,  the  first  enemy  of  ignorance,  the  first  to 
whisper  in  human  ears  the  sacred  word  liberty,  the 
creator  of  ambition,  the  author  of  modesty,  of  in- 
quiry, of  doubt,  of  investigation,  of  progress  and 
of  civilization. 
/  Give  me  the  storm  and  tempest  of  thought  and 

action,  rather  than  the  dead  calm  of  ignorance  an(J 
faith!  Banish  me  from  Eden  when  you  will  ;  but 
first  let  me  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge ! 
Some  nations  have  borrowed  their  gods ;  of 
this  number,  we  are  compelled  to  say,  is  our  own. 
The  Jews  having  ceased  to  exist  as  a  nation,  and 
having  no  further  use  for  a  god,  our  ancestors 
appropriated  him  and  adopted  their  devil  at  the 
same  time.  This  borrowed  god  is  still  an  object 
of  some  adoration,  and  this  adopted  devil  still  ex- 
cites the  apprehensions  of  our  people.     He  is  still 


THE   GODS.  23 


supposed  to  be  setting  his  traps  and  snares  for  the 
purpose  of  catching  our  unwary  souls,  and  is  still, 
with  reasonable  success,  waging  the  old  war  against 
our  god. 

To  me,  it  seems  easy  to  account  for  these  ideas 
concerning  gods  and  devils.  They  are  a  perfectly 
natural  production.  Man  has  created  them  all, 
and  under  the  same  circumstances  would  create 
them  again.  Man  has  not  only  created  all  these 
gods,  but  he  has  created  them  out  of  the  materials 
by  which  he  has  been  surrounded.  Generally  he 
has  modeled  them  after  himself,  and  has  given 
them  hands,  heads,  feet,  eyes,  ears,  and  organs  of 
speech.  Each  nation  made  its  gods  and  devils 
speak  its  language  not  only,  but  put  in  their 
mouths  the  same  mistakes  in  history,  geography, 
astronomy,  and  in  all  matters  of  fact,  generally 
made  by  the  people.  No  god  was  ever  in  advance 
of  the  nation  that  created  him.  The  negroes  rep- 
resented their  deities  with  black  skins  and  curly 
hair.  The  Mongolian  gave  to  his  a  yellow  com- 
plexion and  dark  almond-shaped  eyes.  The  Jews 
were  not  allowed  to  paint  theirs,  or  we  should 
have  seen  Jehovah  with  a  full  beard,  an  oval  face, 
and  an  aquiline  nose.     Zeus  was  a  perfect  Greek, 


24  THE   GODS. 


and  Jove  looked  as  though  a  member  of  the 
Roman  senate.  The  gods  of  Egypt  had  the 
patient  face  and  placid  look  of  the  loving  people 
who  made  them.  The  gods  of  northern  countries 
were  represented  warmly  clad  in  robes  of  fur ; 
those  of  the  tropics  were  naked.  The  gods  of 
India  were  often  mounted  upon  elephants  ;  those 
of  some  islanders  were  great  swimmers,  and  the 
deities  of  the  Arctic  zone  were  passionately  fond 
of  whale's  blubber.  Nearly  all  people  have  carved 
or  painted  representations  of  their  gods,  and 
these  representations  were,  by  the  lower  classes, 
generally  treated  as  the  real  gods,  and  to  these 
images  and  idols  they  addressed  prayers  and 
offered  sacrifice. 

"In  some  countries,  even  at  this  day,  if  the 
people  after  long  praying  do  not  obtain  their 
desires,  they  turn  their  images  off  as  impotent 
gods,  or  upbraid  them  in  a  most  reproachful 
manner,  loading  them  with  blows  and  curses. 
'How  now,  dog  of  a  spirit,'  they  say,  'we  give 
you  lodging  in  a  magnificent  temple,  we  gild  you 
with  gold,  feed  you  with  the  choicest  food,  and 
offer  incense  to  you ;  yet,  after  all  this  care,  you 
are   so   ungrateful  as   to   refuse   us  what  we  ask.' 


THE   GODS.  25 


Hereupon  they  will  pull  the  god  down  and  drag 
him  through  the  filth  of  the  street.  If,  in  the 
meantime,  it  happens  that  they  obtain  their  re- 
quest, then,  with  a  great  deal  of  ceremony,  they 
wash  him  clean,  carry  him  back  and  place  him 
in  his  temple  again,  where  they  fall  down  and 
make  excuses  for  what  they  have  done.  '  Of  a 
truth,'  they  say,  'we  were  a  little  too  hasty,  and 
you  were  a  little  too  long  in  your  grant.  Why 
should  you  bring  this  beating  on  yourself.  But 
what  is  done  cannot  be  undone.  Let  us  not  think 
of  it  any  more.  If  you  will  forget  what  is  past, 
we  will  gild  you  over  brighter  again  than  before.' " 
Man  has  never  been  at  a  loss  for  gods.  He 
has  worshiped  almost  everything,  including  the 
vilest  and  most  dismasting  beasts.  He  has  wor- 
shiped  fire,  earth,  air,  water,  light,  stars,  and  for 
hundreds  of  ages  prostrated  himself  before  enor- 
mous snakes.  Savage  tribes  often  make  gods  of 
articles  they  get  from  civilized  people.  The  To- 
das  worship  a  cow-bell.  The  Kotas  worship  two 
silver  plates,  which  they  regard  as  husband  and 
wife,  and  another  tribe  manufactured  a  god  out 
of  a  kinor  of  hearts. 

o 

Man,  having  always  been  the  physical  superior 


26  THE  GODS. 


of  woman,  accounts  for  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
high  gods  have  been  males.  Had  woman  been 
the  physical  superior,  the  powers  supposed  to  be 
the  rulers  of  Nature  would  have  been  women,  and 
instead  of  being  represented  in  the  apparel  of 
man,  they  would  have  luxuriated  in  trains,  low- 
necked  dresses,  laces  and  back-hair. 

Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  each  nation 
gives  to  its  god  its  peculiar  characteristics,  and 
that  every  individual  gives  to  his  god  his  personal 
peculiarities. 

Man  has  no  ideas,  and  can  have  none,  except 
those  suggested  by  his  surroundings.  He  cannot 
conceive  of  anything  utterly  unlike  what  he  has 
seen  or  felt.  He  can  exaggerate,  diminish,  combine, 
separate,  deform,  beautify,  improve,  multiply  and 
compare  what  he  sees,  what  he  feels,  what  he  hears, 
and  all  of  which  he  takes  cognizance  through  the 
medium  of  the  senses  ;  but  he  cannot  create.  Hav- 
ing seen  exhibitions  of  power,  he  can  say,  omnipo- 
tent. Having  lived,  he  can  say,  immortality.  Know- 
ing something  of  time,  he  can  say,  eternity.  Con- 
ceiving something  of  intelligence,  he  can  say,  God. 
Having  seen  exhibitions  of  malice,  he  can  say, 
devil.     A  few  gleams   of  happiness   having  fallen 


THE   GODS.  27 


athwart  the  gloom  of  his  life,  he  can  say,  heaven. 
Pain,  in  its  numberless  forms,  having  been  expe- 
rienced, he  can  say,  hell.  Yet  all  these  ideas  have 
a  foundation  in  fact,  and  only  a  foundation.  The 
superstructure  has  been  reared  by  exaggerating, 
diminishing,  combining,  separating,  deforming,  beau- 
tifying, improving  or  multiplying  realities,  so  that 
the  edifice  or  fabric  is  but  the  incongruous  grouping 
of  what  man  has  perceived  through  the  medium  of 
the  senses.     It  is  as  though  we  should  give  to  a 

o  o 

lion  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  the  hoofs  of  a  bison,  the 
tail  of  a  horse,  the  pouch  of  a  kangaroo,  and  the 
trunk  of  an  elephant.  We  have  in  imagination 
created  an  impossible  monster.  And  yet  the 
various  parts  of  this  monster  really  exist.  So  it 
is  with  all  the  gods  that  man  has  made. 

Beyond  nature  man  cannot  go  even  in  thought 
■ — above  nature  he  cannot  rise  —  below  nature 
he  cannot  fall. 

Man,  in  his  ignorance,  supposed  that  all  phe- 
nomena were  produced  by  some  intelligent  powers, 
and  with  direct  reference  to  him.  To  preserve 
friendly  relations  with  these  powers  was,  and  still 
is,  the  object  of  all  religions.  Man  knelt  through 
fear  and  to   implore  assistance,  or   through  grati- 


28  THE   GODS. 


tude  for  some  favor  which  he  supposed  had  been 
rendered.  He  endeavored  by  supplication  to  ap- 
pease some  being  who,  for  some  reason,  had,  as  he 
believed,  become  enraged.  The  lightning  and  thun- 
der terrified  him.  In  the  presence  of  the  volcano 
he  sank  upon  his  knees.  The  great  forests  filled 
with  wild  and  ferocious  beasts,  the  monstrous  ser- 
pents crawling  in  mysterious  depths,  the  boundless 
sea,  the  flaming  comets,  the  sinister  eclipses,  the 
awful  calmness  of  the  stars,  and,  more  than  all,  the 
perpetual  presence  of  death,  convinced  him  that 
he  was  the  sport  and  prey  of  unseen  and  malig- 
nant powers.  The  strange  and  frightful  diseases 
to  which  he  was  subject,  the  freezings  and  burn- 
ings of  fever,  the  contortions  of  epilepsy,  the  sud- 
den palsies,  the  darkness  of  night,  and  the  wild, 
terrible  and  fantastic  dreams  that  filled  his  brain, 
satisfied  him  that  he  was  haunted  and  pursued 
by  countless  spirits  of  evil.  For  some  reason  he 
supposed  that  these  spirits  differed  in  power — 
that  they  were  not  all  alike  malevolent  —  that  the 
higher  controlled  the  lower,  and  that  his  very  ex- 
istence depended  upon  gaining  the  assistance  of 
the  more  powerful.  For  this  purpose  he  resorted 
to  prayer,  to  flattery,  to  worship  and  to  sacrifice. 


THE  GODS.  29 


These  ideas  appear  to  have  been  almost  universal 
in  savage  man. 

For  ages  all  nations  supposed  that  the  sick 
and  insane  were  possessed  by  evil  spirits.  For 
thousands  of  years  the  practice  of  medicine  con- 
sisted in  frightening  these  spirits  away.  Usually 
the  priests  would  make  the  loudest  and  most  dis- 
cordant noises  possible.  They  would  blow  horns, 
beat  upon  rude  drums,  clash  cymbals,  and  in  the 
meantime  utter  the  most  unearthly  yells.  If  the 
noise-remedy  failed,  they  would  implore  the  aid 
of  some   more   powerful  spirit. 

To  pacify  these  spirits  was  considered  of  infi- 
nite importance.  The  poor  barbarian,  knowing 
that  men  could  be  softened  by  gifts,  gave  to  these 
spirits  that  which  to  him  seemed  of  the  most 
value.  With  bursting  heart  he  would  offer  the 
blood  of  his  dearest  child.  It  was  impossible  for 
him  to  conceive  of  a  god  utterly  unlike  himself, 
and  he  naturally  supposed  that  these  powers  of 
the  air  would  be  affected  a  little  at  the  sight  of 
so  great  and  so  deep  a  sorrow.  It  was  with  the 
barbarian  then  as  with  the  civilized  now  —  one 
class  lived  upon  and  made  merchandise  of  the 
fears  of  another.     Certain   persons  took  it    upon 


30  THE   GODS. 


themselves  to  appease  the  gods,  and  to  instruct 
the  people  in  their  duties  to  these  unseen  powers. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  priesthood.  The  priest 
pretended  to  stand  between  the  wrath  of  the  gods 
and  the  helplessness  of  man.  He  was  man's  at- 
torney at  the  court  of  heaven.  He  carried  to 
the  invisible  world  a  flag  of  truce,  a  protest  and 
a  request.  He  came  back  with  a  command,  with 
authority  and  with  power.  Man  fell  upon  his 
knees  before  his  own  servant,  and  .  the  priest, 
taking  advantage  of  the  awe  inspired  by  his  sup- 
posed influence  with  the  gods,  made  of  his  fellow- 
man  a  cringing  hypocrite  and  slave.  Even  Christ, 
the  supposed  son  of  God,  taught  that  persons 
were  possessed  of  evil  spirits,  and  frequently,  ac- 
cording to  the  account,  gave  proof  of  his  divine 
origin  and  mission  by  frightening  droves  of  devils 
out  of  his  unfortunate  countrymen.  Casting  out 
devils  was  his  principal  employment,  and  the  devils 
thus  banished  generally  took  occasion  to  acknowl- 
edge him  as  the  true  Messiah ;  which  was  not 
only  very  kind  of  them,  but  quite  fortunate  for  him. 
The  religious  people  have  always * regarded  the 
testimony  of  these  devils  as  perfectly  conclusive, 
and  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  quote  the 


THE  GODS.  31 


words  of  these  imps  of  darkness  with  great  sat- 
isfaction. 

The  fact  that  Christ  could  withstand  the  temp- 
tations of  the  devil  was  considered  as  conclusive 
evidence  that  he  was  assisted  by  some  god,  or  at 
least  by  some  being  superior  to  man.  St.  Mat- 
thew gives  an  account  of  an  attempt  made  by 
the  devil  to  tempt  the  supposed  son  of  God;  and 
it  has  always  excited  the  wonder  of  Christians 
that  the  temptation  was  so  nobly  and  heroically 
withstood.  The  account  to  which  I  refer  is  as 
follows : 

"Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  spirit  into  the 
wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.  And  when 
the  tempter  came  to  him,  he  said:  'If  thou  be 
the  son  of  God,  command  that  these  stones  be 
made  bread.'  But  he  answered,  and  said:  'It  is 
written :  man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God.'  Then  the  devil  taketh  him  up  into  the 
holy  city  and  setteth  him  upon  a  pinnacle  of  the 
temple  and  saith  unto  him:  'If  thou  be  the  son 
of  God,  cast  thyself  down ,  for  it  is  written,  He 
shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee,  lest 
at   any  time   thou   shalt   dash   thy  foot    against  a 


32  THE   GODS. 


stone.'  Jesus  said  unto  him :  '  It  is  written  again, 
thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God.'  Again 
the  devil  taketh  him  up  into  an  exceeding  high 
mountain  and  sheweth  him  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  the  glory  of  them,  and  saith  unto 
him :  '  All  these  will  I  give  thee  if  thou  wilt  fall 
down  and  worship  me.' " 

The  Christians  now  claim  that  Jesus  was  God. 
If  he  was  God,  of  course  the  devil  knew  that  fact, 
and  yet,  according  to  this  account,  the  devil  took 
the  omnipotent  God  and  placed  him  upon  a  pin- 
nacle  of    the    temple,   and   endeavored    to   induce 
him  to  dash  himself  against  the  earth.     Failing-  in 
that,  he  took  the  creator,  owner  and  governor  of 
the  universe  up  into  an  exceeding  high  mountain, 
and  offered  him  this  world  —  this  grain  of  sand  — 
if  he,  the  God  of  all  the  worlds,  would  fall  down 
and   worship    him,  a   poor    devil,  without    even    a 
tax   title  to   one   foot  of  dirt !     Is  it  possible  the 
devil  was  such  an  idiot  ?     Should  any  great  credit 
be  given  to  this  deity  for   not   being  caught  with 
such  chaff?     Think  of  it !     The  devil  —  the  prince 
of  sharpers  —  the  king  of   cunning  —  the  master 
of  finesse,  trying  to  bribe  God  with  a  grain  of 
sand  that  belonged  to  God ! 


THE  GODS.  33 


Is  there  in  all  the  religious  literature  of  the 
world   anything   more    grossly   absurd    than   this  ? 

These  devils,  according  to  the  bible,  were  of 
various  kinds  —  some  could  speak  and  hear,  others 
were  deaf  and  dumb.  All  could  not  be  cast  out 
in  the  same  way.  The  deaf  and  dumb  spirits 
were  quite  difficult  to  deal  with.  St.  Mark  tells 
of  a  gentleman  who  brought  his  son  to  Christ. 
The  boy,  it  seems,  was  possessed  of  a  dumb 
spirit,  over  which  the  disciples  had  no  control. 
"Jesus  said  unto  the  spirit:  'Thou  dumb  and 
deaf  spirit,  I  charge  thee  come  out  of  him,  and 
enter  no  more  into  him.' "  Whereupon,  the 
deaf  spirit  (having  heard  what  was  said)  cried 
out  (being  dumb)  and  immediately  vacated  the 
premises.  The  ease  with  which  Christ  controlled 
this  deaf  and  dumb  spirit  excited  the  wonder  of 
his  disciples,  and  they  asked  him  privately  why 
they  could  not  cast  that  spirit  out.  To  whom  he 
replied:  "This  kind  can  come  forth  by  nothing 
but  prayer  and  fasting."  Is  there  a  Christian  in 
the  whole  world  who  would  believe  such  a  story 
if  found  in  any  other  book  ?  The  trouble  is,  these 
pious  people  shut  up  their  reason,  and  then  open 
their  bible. 

3 


34  THE   GODS. 


In  the  olden  times  the  existence  of  devils  was 
universally  admitted.  The  people  had  no  doubt 
upon  that  subject,  and  from  such  belief  it  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  a  person,  in  order  to 
vanquish  these  devils,  had  either  to  be  a  god,  or 
to  be  assisted  by  one.  All  founders  of  religions 
have,  established  their  claims  to  divine  origin  by 
controlling  evil  spirits  and  suspending  the  laws 
of  nature.  Casting  out  devils  was  a  certificate  of 
divinity.  A  prophet,  unable  to  cope  with  the 
powers  of  darkness  was  regarded  with  contempt. 
The  utterance  of  the  highest  and  noblest  send- 
ments,  the  most  blameless  and  holy  life,  com- 
manded but  little  respect,  unless  accompanied  by 
power  to  work  miracles  and  command  spirits. 

This  belief  in  good  and  evil  powers  had  its 
origin  in  the  fact  that  man  was  surrounded  by 
what  he  was  pleased  to  call  good  and  evil  phe- 
nomena. Phenomena  affecting  man  pleasantly 
were  ascribed  to  good  spirits,  while  those  affect- 
ing him  unpleasantly  or  injuriously,  were  ascribed 
to  evil  spirits.  It  being  admitted  that  all  phe- 
nomena were  produced  by  spirits,  the  spirits  were 
divided  according  to  the  phenomena,  and  the  phe- 
nomena were  good  or  bad  as  they  affected  man. 


THE  GODS.  35 


Good  spirits  were  supposed  to  be  the  authors  of 
good  phenomena,  and  evil  spirits  of  the  evil  —  so 
that  the  idea  of  a  devil  has  been  as  universal  as 
the  idea  of  a  god. 

Many  writers  maintain  that  an  idea  to  become 
universal  must  be  true ;  that  all  universal  ideas 
are  innate,  and  that  innate  ideas  cannot  be  false. 
If  the  fact  that  an  idea  has  been  universal  proves 
that  it  is  innate,  and  if  the  fact  that  an  idea  is 
innate  proves  that  it  is  correct,  then  the  believers 
in  innate  ideas  must  admit  that  the  evidence  of 
a  god  superior  to  nature,  and  of  a  devil  superior 
to  nature,  is  exactly  the  same,  and  that  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  devil  must  be  as  self-evident  as 
the  existence  of  such  a  god.  The  truth  is,  a  god 
was  inferred  from  good,  and  a  devil  from  bad, 
phenomena.  And  it  is  just  as  natural  and  logical 
to  suppose  that  a  devil  would  cause  happiness  as 
to  suppose  that  a  god  would  produce  misery. 
Consequently,  if  an  intelligence,  infinite  and  su- 
preme, is  the  immediate  author  of  all  phenomena, 
it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  such  intelli- 
gence is  the  friend  or  enemy  of  man.  If  phe- 
nomena were  all  good,  we  might  say  they  were 
all  produced  by  a  perfectly  beneficent  being.     If 


36  THE  GODS. 


they  were  all  bad,  we  might  say  they  were  pro- 
duced by  a  perfectly  malevolent  power;  but,  as 
phenomena  are,  as  they  affect  man,  both  good 
and  bad,  they  must  be  produced  by  different  and 
antagonistic  spirits;  by  one  who  is  sometimes 
actuated  by  kindness,  and  sometimes  by  malice ; 
or  all  must  be  produced  of  necessity,  and  without 
reference  to  their  consequences  upon  man. 

The  foolish  doctrine  that  all  phenomena  can 
be  traced  to  the  interference  of  good  and  evil 
spirits,  has  been,  and  still  is,  almost  universal. 
That  most  people  still  believe  in  some  spirit  that 
can  change  the  natural  order  of  events,  is  proven 
by  the  fact  that  nearly  all  resort  to  prayer.  Thou- 
sands, at  this  very  moment,  are  probably  imploring 
some  supposed  power  to  interfere  in  their  behalf. 
Some  want  health  restored;  some  ask  that  the 
loved  and  absent  be  watched  over  and  protected, 
some  pray  for  riches,  some  for  rain,  some  want 
diseases  stayed,  some  vainly  ask  for  food,  some 
ask  for  revivals,  a  few  ask  for  more  wisdom,  and 
now  and  then  one  tells  the  Lord  to  do  as  he 
may  think  best.  Thousands  ask  to  be  protected 
from  the  devil ;  some,  like  David,  pray  for  re- 
venge, and  some  implore,  even  God,  not  to  lead 


THE  GODS.  37 


them  into  temptation.  All  these  prayers  rest  upon, 
and  are  produced  by,  the  idea  that  some  power 
not  only  can,  but  probably  will,  change  the  order 
of  the  universe.  This  belief  has  been  among  the 
great  majority  of  tribes  and  nations.  All  sacred 
books  are  filled  with  the  accounts  of  such  inter- 
ferences, and  our  own  bible  is  no  exception  to 
this  rule. 

If  we  believe  in  a  power  superior  to  nature, 
it  is  perfectly  natural  to  suppose  that  such  power 
can  and  will  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  this  world. 
If  there  is  no  interference,  of  what  practical  use 
can  such  power  be?  The  scriptures  give  us  the 
most  wonderful  accounts  of  divine  interference  : 
Animals  talk  like  men  ;  springs  gurgle  from  dry 
bones  ;  the  sun  and  moon  stop  in  the  heavens  in 
order  that  General  Joshua  may  have  more  time 
to  murder;  the  shadow  on  a  dial  goes  back  ten 
degrees  to  convince  a  petty  king  of  a  barbarous 
people  that  he  is  not  going  to  die  of  a  boil ;  fire 
refuses  to  burn  ;  water  positively  declines  to  seek 
its  level,  but  stands  up  like  a  wall ;  grains  of 
sand  become  lice ;  common  walking-sticks,  to  grat- 
ify a  mere  freak,  twist  themselves  into  serpents, 
and  then  swallow  each  other  by  way  of  exercise ; 


38  THE  GODS. 


murmuring  streams,  laughing  at  the  attraction  of 
gravitation,  run  up  hill   for  years,  following  wan- 
dering tribes  from  a  pure  love  of  frolic  ;  prophecy 
becomes  altogether  easier  than  history;  the  sons 
of   God    become    enamored    of  the  worlds  girls ; 
women  are  changed  into   salt  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  a  great  event  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men  ; 
an  excellent  article  of  brimstone  is  imported  from 
heaven  free  of  duty;    clothes  refuse  to  wear  out 
for  forty  years;  birds  keep   restaurants   and  feed 
wandering  prophet's  free   of  expense;    bears  tear 
children  in  pieces  for  laughing  at  old  men  with- 
out wigs ;    muscular   development    depends    upon 
the  length  of  one's  hair ;  dead  people  come  to  life, 
simply  to  get  a  joke  on  their  enemies  and  heirs ; 
witches  and  wizards  converse  freely  with  the  souls 
of    the    departed,   and    God    himself    becomes   a 
stone-cutter    and    engraver,    after    having    been    a 
tailor  and  dressmaker. 

The  veil  between  heaven  and  earth  was  al- 
ways rent  or  lifted.  The  shadows  of  this  world, 
the  radiance  of  heaven,  and  the  glare  of  hell 
mixed  and  mingled  until  man  became  uncertain 
as  to  which  country  he  really  inhabited.  Man 
dwelt  in  an  unreal  world.     He  mistook  his  ideas, 


THE  GODS.  39 


his  dreams,  for  real  things.  His  fears  became 
terrible  and  malicious  monsters.  He  lived  in  the 
midst  of  furies  and  fairies,  nymphs  and  naiads, 
goblins  and  ghosts,  witches  and  wizards,  sprites 
and  spooks,  deities  and  devils.  The  obscure  and 
gloomy  depths  were  filled  with  claw  and  wing  — 
with  beak  and  hoof — with  leering  looks  and 
sneering  mouths — with  the   malice  of  deformity 

—  with  the  cunning  of  hatred,  and  with  all  the 
slimy  forms  that  fear  can  draw  and  paint  upon 
the  shadowy  canvas  of  the  dark. 

It  is  enough  to  make  one  almost  insane  with 
pity  to  think  what  man  in  the  long  night  has  suf- 
fered ;  of  the  tortures  he  has  endured,  sur- 
rounded, as  he  supposed,  by  malignant  powers 
and  clutched  by  the  fierce  phantoms  of  the  air. 
No  wonder  that  he  fell   upon  his   trembling  knees 

—  that  he  built  altars  and  reddened  them  even 
with  his  own  blood.  No  wonder  that  he  implored 
ignorant  priests  and  impudent  magicians  for  aid. 
No  wonder  that  he  crawled  groveling-  in  the  dust 
to  the  temple's  door,  and  there,  in  the  insanity  of 
despair,  besought  the  deaf  gods  to  hear  his  bitter 
cry  of  agony  and  fear. 

The  savage  as  he  emerges  from  a  state  of  bar- 


40  THE   GODS. 


barism,  gradually  loses  faith  in  his  idols  of  wood 
and  stone,  and  in  their  place  puts  a  multitude  of 
spirits.  As  he  advances  in  knowledge,  he  gene- 
rally discards  the  petty  spirits,  and  in  their  stead 
believes  in  one,  whom  he  supposes  to  be  infinite 
and  supreme.  Supposing  this  great  spirit  to  be 
superior  to  nature,  he  offers  worship  or  flattery  in 
exchange  for  assistance.  At  last,  finding  that  he 
obtains  no  aid  from  this  supposed  deity  —  finding 
that  every  search  after  the  absolute  must  of  neces- 
sity end  in  failure  —  finding  that  man  cannot  by 
any  possibility  conceive  of  the  conditionless  — 
he  begins  to  investigate  the  facts  by  which  he  is 
surrounded,  and  to  depend  upon  himself 

The  people  are  beginning  to  think,  to  reason 
and  to  investigate.  Slowly,  painfully,  but  surely, 
the  gods  are  being  driven  from  the  earth.  Only 
upon  rare  occasions  are  they,  even  by  the  most 
religious,  supposed  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of 
men.  In  most  matters  we  are  at  last  supposed 
to  be  free.  Since  the  invention  of  steamships 
and  railways,  so  that  the  products  of  all  countries 
can  be  easily  interchanged,  the  gods  have  quit  the 
business  of  producing  famine.  Now  and  then 
they   kill   a   child   because   it  is    idolized    by    its 


THE   GODS.  41 


parents.  As  a  rule  they  have  given  up  causing 
accidents  on  railroads,  exploding  boilers,  and 
bursting  kerosene  lamps.  Cholera,  yellow  fever, 
and  small-pox  are  still  considered  heavenly 
weapons ;  but  measles,  itch  and  ague  are  now 
attributed  to  natural  causes.  As  a  general  thing, 
the  gods  have  stopped  drowning  children,  except 
as  a  punishment  for  violating  the  Sabbath.  They 
still  pay  some  attention  to  the  affairs  of  kings, 
men  of  genius  and  persons  of  great  wealth  ;  but 
ordinary  people  are  left  to  shirk  for  themselves 
as  best  they  may.  In  wars  between  great  na- 
tions, the  gods  still  interfere  ;  but  in  prize  fights, 
the  best  man  with  an  honest  referee,  is  almost 
sure  to  win. 

The  church  cannot  abandon  the  idea  of  special 
providence.  To  give  up  that  doctrine  is  to  give 
up  all.  The  church  must  insist  that  prayer  is 
answered  —  that  some  power  superior  to  nature 
hears  and  grants  the  request  of  the  sincere  and 
humble  Christian,  and  that  this  same  power  in 
some  mysterious  way  provides  for  all. 

A  devout  clergyman  sought  every  opportunity 
to  impress  upon  the  mind  of  his  son  the  fact,  that 
God  takes  care  of  all  his  creatures  ;    that  the  fall- 


42  THE  GODS. 


ing  sparrow  attracts  his  attention,  and  that  his 
loving  kindness  is  over  all  his  works.  Happening, 
one  day,  to  see  a  crane  wading  in  quest  of  food, 
the  good  man  pointed  out  to  his  son  the  perfect 
adaptation  of  the  crane  to  get  his  living  in  that 
manner.  "  See,"  said  he,  "  how  his  legs  are  formed 
for  wading !  What  a  long  slender  bill  he  has  ! 
Observe  how  nicely  he  folds  his  feet  when  putting 
them  in  or  drawing  them  out  of  the  water  !  He 
does  not  cause  the  slightest  ripple.  He  is  thus 
enabled  to  approach  the  fish  without  giving  them 
any  notice  of  his  arrival."  "My  son,"  said  he, 
11  it  is  impossible  to  look  at  that  bird  without 
recognizing  the  design,  as  well  as  the  goodness 
of  God,  in  thus  providing  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence." "  Yes,"  replied  the  boy,  "  I  think  I  see 
the  goodness  of  God,  at  least  so  far  as  the 
crane  is  concerned ;  but  after  all,  father,  don't 
you  think  the  arrangement  a  little  tough  on  the 
fish?" 

Even  the  advanced  religionist,  although  dis- 
believing in  any  great  amount  of  interference 
by  the  gods  in  this  age  of  the  world,  still 
thinks,  that  in  the  beginning,  some  god  made 
the  laws  governing    the    universe.       He    believes 


THE  GODS.  43 


that  in  consequence  of  these  laws  a  man  can 
lift  a  greater  weight  with,  than  without,  a  lever ; 
that  this  god  so  made  matter,  and  so  estab- 
lished the  order  of  things,  that  two  bodies  can- 
not occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time ; 
so  that  a  body  once  put  in  motion  will  keep 
moving  until  it  is  stopped  ;  so  that  it  is  a 
greater  distance  around,  than  across  a  circle ; 
so  that  a  perfect  square  has  four  equal  sides, 
instead  of  five  or  seven.  He  insists  that  it  took 
a  direct  interposition  of  providence  to  make  the 
whole  greater  than  a  part,  and  that  had  it  not 
been  for  this  power  superior  to  nature,  twice 
one  might  have  been  more  than  twice  two,  and 
sticks  and  strings  might  have  had  only  one  end 
apiece.  Like  the  old  Scotch  divine,  he  thanks 
God  that  Sunday  comes  at  the  end  instead  of 
in  the  middle  of  the  week,  and  that  death 
comes  at  the  close  instead  of  at  the  commence- 
ment of  life,  thereby  giving  us  time  to  prepare 
for  that  holy  day  and  that  most  solemn  event 
These  religious  people  see  nothing  but  design 
everywhere,  and  personal,  intelligent  interference 
in  everything.  They  insist  that  the  universe 
has    been    created,    and    that    the    adaptation    of 


44  THE  GODS. 


means  to  ends  is  perfectly  apparent.  They 
point  us  to  the  sunshine,  to  the  flowers,  to  the 
April  rain,  and  to  all  there  is  of  beauty  and  of 
use  in  the  world.  Did  it  ever  occur  to  them 
that  a  cancer  is  as  beautiful  in  its  development 
as  is  the  reddest  rose?  That  what  they  are 
pleased  to  call  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends, 
is  as  apparent  in  the  cancer  as  in  the  April 
rain?  How  beautiful  the  process  of  digestion! 
By  what  ingenious  methods  the  blood  is  poi- 
soned so  that  the  cancer  shall  have  food  !  By 
what  wonderful  contrivances  the  entire  system 
of  man  is  made  to  pay  tribute  to  this  divine 
and  charming  cancer !  See  by  what  admirable 
instrumentalities  it  feeds  itself  from  the  surround- 
ing quivering,  dainty  flesh  !  See  how  it  gradu- 
ally but  surely  expands  and  grows !  By  what 
marvelous  mechanism  it  is  supplied  with  long 
and  slender  roots  that  reach  out  to  the  most 
secret  nerves  of  pain  for  sustenance  and  life ! 
What  beautiful  colors  it  presents  !  Seen  through 
the  microscope  it  is  a  miracle  of  order  and 
beauty.  All  the  ingenuity  of  man  cannot  stop 
its  growth.  Think  of  the  amount  of  thought  it 
must    have    required    to    invent    a    way  by  which 


THE   GODS.  45 


the  life  of  one  man  might  be  given  to  produce 
one  cancer  ?  Is  it  possible  to  look  upon  it  and 
doubt  that  there  is  design  in  the  universe,  and 
that  the  inventor  of  this  wonderful  cancer  must 
be  infinitely  powerful,  ingenious  and  good  ? 

We  are  told  that  the  universe  was  designed 
and  created,  and  that  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that 
matter  has  existed  from  eternity,  but  that  it  is 
perfectly  self-evident  that  a  god  has. 

If  a  god  created  the  universe,  then,  there  must 
have  been  a  time  when  he  commenced  to  create. 
Back  of  that  time  there  must  have  been  an  eter- 
nity, during  which  there  had  existed  nothing  — 
absolutely  nothing  —  except  this  supposed  god. 
According  to  this  theory,  this  god  spent  an  eter- 
nity, so  to  speak,  in  an  infinite  vacuum,  and  in 
perfect  idleness. 

Admitting  that  a  god  did  create  the  universe, 
the  question  then  arises,  of  what  did  he  create  it  ? 
It  certainly  was  not  made  of  nothing.  Nothing, 
considered  in  the  light  of  a  raw  material,  is  a  most 
decided  failure.  It  follows,  then,  that  the  god 
must  have  made  the  universe  out  of  himself,  he 
being  the  only  existence.  The  universe  is  mate- 
rial, and  if  it  was  made  of  god,  the  god  must  have 


46  THE   GODS. 


been  material.  With  this  very  thought  in  his 
mind,  Anaximander  of  Miletus  said:  "Creation 
is  the  decomposition  of  the  infinite." 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  earth  would 
fall  to  the  sun,  only  for  the  fact,  that  it  is  attract- 
ed by  other  worlds,  and  those  worlds  must  be 
attracted  by  other  worlds  still  beyond  them,  and 
so  on,  without  end.  This  proves  the  material 
universe  to  be  infinite.  If  an  infinite  universe 
has  been  made  out  of  an  infinite  god,  how  much 
of  the  god  is  left  ? 

The  idea  of  a  creative  deity  is  gradually  being 
abandoned,  and  nearly  all  truly  scientific  minds 
admit  that  matter  must  have  existed  from  eternity. 
It  is  indestructible,  and  the  indestructible  cannot 
be  created.  It  is  the  crowning  glory  of  our  cen- 
tury to  have  demonstrated  the  indestructibility 
and  the  eternal  persistence  of  force.  Neither 
matter  nor  force  can  be  increased  nor  diminished. 
Force  cannot  exist  apart  from  matter.  Matter 
exists  only  in  connection  with  force,  and  conse- 
quently, a  force  apart  from  matter,  and  superior 
to  nature,  is  a  demonstrated  impossibility. 

Force,  then,  must  have  also  existed  from  eter- 
nity, and   could    not   have  been  created.     Matter 


THE  GODS.  47 


in  its  countless  forms,  from  dead  earth  to  the  eyes 
of  those  we  love,  and  force,  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions, from  simple  motion  to  the  grandest  thought, 
deny  creation  and  defy  control. 

Thought  is  a  form  of  force.  We  walk  with 
the  same  force  with  which  we  think.  Man  is  an 
organism,  that  changes  several  forms  of  force  into 
thought-force.  Man  is  a  machine  into  which  we 
put  what  we  call  food,  and  produce  what  we  call 
thought.  Think  of  that  wonderful  chemistry  by 
which  bread  was  changed  into  the  divine  tragedy 
of  Hamlet ! 

A  god  must  not  only  be  material,  but  he  must 
be  an  organism,  capable  of  changing  other  forms 
of  force  into  thought-force.  This  is  what  we 
call  eating.  Therefore,  if  the  god  thinks,  he  must 
eat,  that  is  to  say,  he  must  of  necessity  have 
some  means  of  supplying  the  force  with  which  to 
think.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  being 
who  can  eternally  impart  force  to  matter,  and  yet 
have  no  means  of  supplying  the  force  thus  im- 
parted. 

If  neither  matter  nor  force  were  created,  what 
evidence  have  we,  then,  of  the  existence  of  a 
power  superior  to  nature  ?      The  theologian  will 


48  THE  GODS. 


probably  reply,  "  We  have  law  and  order,  cause 
and  effect,  and  beside  all  this,  matter  could  not 
have  put  itself  in  motion." 

Suppose,   for   the   sake  of    the  argument,  that 
there   is    no    being    superior    to   nature,   and   that 
matter    and    force     have    existed    from    eternity. 
Now     suppose     that     two    atoms    should    come 
together,  would  there  be  an    effect?     Yes.     Sup- 
pose   they    came    in    exactly    opposite    directions 
with  equal   force,   they  would  be  stopped,   to   say 
the  least.     This  would  be  an  effect.     If  this  is   so, 
then  you   have   matter,  force   and   effect  without  a 
being  superior  to  nature.     Now  suppose  that  two 
other  atoms,  just  like  the  first    two,  should   come 
together  under  precisely  the   same   circumstances, 
would  not  the  effect  be  exactly  the  same  ?      Yes. 
Like   causes,  producing    like    effects,  is    what   we 
mean  by  law  and  order.     Then  we    have  matter, 
force,  effect,  law  and  order  without  a  being  supe- 
rior to  nature.      Now,  we  know  that  every  effect 
must  also  be  a  cause,  and  that  every  cause  must 
be    an    effect.      The   atoms   coming  together   did 
produce  an    effect,  and   as  every  effect  must  also 
be  a  cause,  the  effect    produced    by   the   collision 
of  the  atoms,  must  as  to  something  else  have  been 


THE   GODS.  4S 


a  cause.  Then  we  have  matter,  force,  law,  order> 
cause  and  effect  without  a  being  superior  to 
nature.  Nothing  is  left  for  the  supernatural  but 
empty  space.  His  throne  is  a  void,  and  his 
boasted  realm  is  without  matter,  without  force, 
without  lav/,  without  cause,  and  without  effect. 

But  what  put  all  this  matter  in  motion  ?  If 
matter  and  force  have  existed  from  eternity,  then 
matter  must  have  always  been  in  motion.  There 
can  be  no  force  without  motion.  Force  is  for- 
ever active,  and  there  is,  and  there  can  be  no 
cessation.  If,  therefore,  matter  and  force  have  ex- 
isted from  eternity,  so  has  motion.  In  the  whole 
universe  there  is  not  even  one  atom  in  a  state 
of  rest. 

A  deity  outside  of  nature  exists  in  nothing, 
and  is  nothing.  Nature  embraces  with  infinite 
arms  all  matter  and  all  force.  That  which  is 
beyond  her  grasp  is  destitute  of  both,  and  can 
hardly  be  worth  the  worship  and  adoration  even 
of  a  man. 

There  is  but  one  way  to  demonstrate  the 
existence  of  a  power  independent  of  and  superior 
to  nature,  and  that  is  by  breaking,  if  only  for  one 
moment,  the  continuity  of  cause  and  effect.     Pluck 

4 


50  THE  GODS. 


from  the  endless  chain  of  existence  one  little 
link ;  stop  for  one  instant  the  grand  procession, 
and  you  have  shown  beyond  all  contradiction  that 
nature  has  a  master.  Change  the  fact,  just  for 
one  second,  that  matter  attracts  matter,  and  a 
god  appears. 

The  rudest  savage  has  always  known  this  fact, 
and  for  that  reason  always  demanded  the  evi- 
dence of  miracle.  The  founder  of  a  relieion 
must  be  able  to  turn  water  into  wine  —  cure  with 
a  word  the  blind  and  lame,  and  raise  with  a  sim- 
ple touch  the  dead  to  life.  It  was  necessary  for 
him  to  demonstrate  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  bar- 
barian disciple,  that  he  was  superior  to  nature. 
In  times  of  ignorance  this  was  easy  to  do.  The 
credulity  of  the  savage  was  almost  boundless. 
To  him  the  marvelous  was  the  beautiful,  the  mys- 
terious was  the  sublime.  Consequently,  every 
religion  has  for  its  foundation  a  miracle  —  that 
is  to  say,  a  violation  of  nature  —  that  is  to  say, 
a  falsehood. 

No  one,  in  the  worlds  whole  history,  ever 
attempted  to  substantiate  a  truth  by  a  miracle. 
Truth  scorns  the  assistance  of  miracle.  Nothing 
but    falsehood   ever  attested  itself    by  signs  and 


THE  GODS.  51 


wonders.  No  miracle  ever  was  performed,  and 
no  sane  man  ever  thought  he  had  performed  one, 
and  until  one  is  performed,  there  can  be  no  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  any  power  superior  to, 
and  independent  of   nature. 

The  church  wishes  us  to  believe.  Let  the 
church,  or  one  of  its  intellectual  saints,  perform 
a  miracle,  and  we  will  believe.  We  are  told  that 
nature  has  a  superior,  Let  this  superior,  for 
one  single  instant,  control  nature,  and  we  will 
admit  the  truth  of  your  assertions. 

We  have  heard  talk  enough.  We  have  list- 
ened to  all  the  drowsy,  idealess,  vapid  sermons 
that  we  wish  to  hear.  We  have  read  your  bible 
and  the  works  of  your  best  minds.  We  have 
heard  your  prayers,  your  solemn  groans  and  your 
reverential  amens.  All  these  amount  to  less 
than  nothing.  We  want  one  fact.  We  beg  at 
the  doors  of  your  churches  for  just  one  little  fact 
We  pass  our  hats  along  your  pews  and  under 
your  pulpits  and  implore  you  for  just  one  fact. 
We  know  all  about  your  mouldy  wonders  and 
your  stale  miracles.  We  want  a  this  year's  fact 
We  ask  only  one.  Give  us  one  fact  for  charity. 
Your   miracles   are    too    ancient.      The  witnesses 


52  THE  GODS. 


have  been  dead  for  nearly  two  thousand  years. 
Their  reputation  for  "truth  and  veracity"  in  the 
neighborhood  where  they  resided  is  wholly  un- 
known to  us.  Give  us  a  new  miracle,  and  sub- 
stantiate it  by  witnesses  who  still  have  the 
cheerful  habit  of  living  in  this  world.  Do  not 
send  us  to  Jericho  to  hear  the  winding  horns, 
nor  put  us  in  the  fire  with  Shadrach,  Meshech,  and 
Abednego.  Do  not  compel  us  to  navigate  the 
sea  with  Captain  Jonah,  nor  dine  with  Mr.  Ezekiel. 
There  is  no  sort  of  use  in  sending  us  fox-hunt- 
ing with  Samson.  We  have  positively  lost  all 
interest  in  that  little  speech  so  eloquently  deliv- 
ered by  Balaam's  inspired  donkey.  It  is  worse 
than  useless  to  show  us  fishes  with  money  in 
their  mouths,  and  call  our  attention  to  vast 
multitudes  stuffing  themselves  with  five  crackers 
and  two  sardines.  We  demand  a  n<uv  miracle, 
and  we  demand  it  now.  Let  the  -.hurch  fur- 
nish at  least  one,  or  forever  afte--  hold  her 
peace. 

In  the  olden  time,  the  church,  by  violating 
the  order  of  nature,  proved  the  e^  itence  of  her 
God.  At  that  time  miracles  w«He  performed 
with    the     most     astonishing    ease.       They    be- 


THE  GODS.  53 


came  so  common  that  the  church  ordered  her 
priests    to    desist.       And    now    this    same    church 

—  the  people  having  found  some  little  sense  — 
admits,  not  only,  that  she  cannot  perform  a 
miracle,  but    insists    that  the  absence    of  miracle 

—  the  steady,  unbroken  march  of  cause  and 
effect,  proves  the  existence  of  a  power  superior 
to  nature.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  the  in- 
dissoluble chain  of  cause  and  effect  proves  ex- 
actly   the    contrary. 

Sir  William  Hamilton,  one  of  the  pillars  of 
modern  theology,  in  discussing  this  very  subject, 
uses  the  following  language :  "  The  phenomena 
of  matter  taken  by  themselves,  so  far  from  war- 
ranting any  inference  to  the  existence  of  a  god, 
would  on  the  contrary  ground  even  an  argument 
to  his  negation.  The  phenomena  of  the  mate- 
rial world  are  subjected  to  immutable  laws  ;  are 
produced  and  reproduced  in  the  same  invariable 
succession,  and  manifest  only  the  blind  force  of 
a  mechanical  necessity." 

Nature  is  but  an  endless  series  of  efficient 
causes.  She  cannot  create,  but  she  eternally  trans- 
forms. There  was  no  beginning,  and  there  can 
be  no  end. 


54  THE  GODS. 


The  best  minds,  even  in  the  religious  world, 
admit  that  in  material  nature  there  is  no  evi- 
dence of  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  a  god. 
They  find  their  evidence  in  the  phenomena  of 
intelligence,  and  very  innocently  assert  that  in- 
telligence is  above,  and  in  fact,  opposed  to  nature. 
They  insist  that  man,  at  least,  is  a  special  crea- 
tion ;  that  he  has  somewhere  in  his  brain  a  di- 
vine spark,  a  little  portion  of  the  "  Great  First 
Cause."  They  say  that  matter  cannot  produce 
thought ;  but  that  thought  can  produce  matter. 
They  tell  us  that  man  has  intelligence,  and 
therefore  there  must  be  an  intelligence  greater 
than  his.  Why  not  say,  God  has  intelligence, 
therefore  there  must  be  an  intelligence  greater 
than  his  ?  So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  in- 
telligence apart  from  matter.  We  cannot  con- 
ceive of  thought,  except  as  produced  within  a 
brain. 

The  science,  by  means  of  which  they  demon- 
strate the  existence  of  an  impossible  intelligence, 
and  an  incomprehensible  power  is  called,  meta- 
physics or  theology.  The  theologians  admit 
that  the  phenomena  of  matter  tend,  at  least,  to 
disprove  the  existence  of  any  power  superior  to 


THE  GODS.  55 


nature,  because  in  such  phenomena  we  see  noth- 
ing but  an  endless  chain  of  efficient  causes  — 
nothing  but  the  force  of  a  mechanical  necessity. 
They  therefore  appeal  to  what  they  denominate 
the  phenomena  of  mind  to  establish  this  superior 
power. 

The  trouble  is,  that  in  the  phenomena  of 
mind  we  find  the  same  endless  chain  of  efficient 
causes  ;  the  same  mechanical  necessity.  Every 
thought  must  have  had  an  efficient  cause.  Every 
motive,  every  desire,  every  fear,  hope  and  dream 
must  have  been  necessarily  produced.  There  is 
no  room  in  the  mind  of  man  for  providence  or 
chance.  The  facts  and  forces  governing  thought 
are  as  absolute  as  those  governing  the  motions 
of  the  planets.  A  poem  is  produced  by  the 
forces  of  nature,  and  is  as  necessarily  and  nat- 
urally produced  as  mountains  and  seas.  You 
will  seek  in  vain  for  a  thought  in  man's  brain 
without  its  efficient  cause.  Every  mental  opera- 
tion is  the  necessary  result  of  certain  facts  and 
conditions.  Mental  phenomena  are  considered 
more  complicated  than  those  of  matter,  and  con- 
sequently more  mysterious.  Being  more  mys- 
terious,  they   are   considered    better    evidence   of 


56  THE  GODS. 


the  existence  of  a  god.  No  one  infers  a  god 
from  the  simple,  from  the  known,  from  what  is 
understood,  but  from  the  complex,  from  the  un- 
known, and  incomprehensible.  Our  ignorance  is 
God  ;  what  we  know  is   science. 

When  we  abandon  the  doctrine  that  some 
infinite  being  created  matter  and  force,  and  en- 
acted a  code  of  laws  for  their  government,  the 
idea  of  interference  will  be  lost.  The  real  priest 
will  then  be,  not  the  mouth-piece  of  some  pre- 
tended deity,  but  the  interpreter  of  nature. 
From  that  moment  the  church  ceases  to  exist 
The  tapers  will  die  out  upon  the  dusty  altar ; 
the  moths  will  eat  the  fading  velvet  of  pulpit 
and  pew  ;  the  Bible  will  take  its  place  with  the 
Shastras,  Puranas,  Vedas,  Eddas,  Sagas  and 
Korans,  and  the  fetters  of  a  degrading  faith  will 
fall  from  the  minds  of  men. 

"  But,"  says  the  religionist,  "  you  cannot  ex- 
plain everything ;  you  cannot  understand  every- 
thing; and  that  which  you  cannot  explain,  that 
which  you  do  not  comprehend,  is  my  God." 

We  are  explaining  more  every  day.  We  are 
understanding  more  every  day ;  consequently 
your  God  is  growing  smaller  every  day. 


THE  GODS.  57 


Nothing  daunted,  the  religionist  then  insists 
that  nothing  can  exist  without  a  cause,  except 
cause,  and  that  this    uncaused  cause  is  God. 

To  this  we  again  reply :  Every  cause  must 
produce  an  effect,  because  until  it  does  produce 
an  effect,  it  is  not  a  cause.  Every  effect  must 
in  its  turn  become  a  cause.  Therefore,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  there  cannot  be  a  last  cause, 
for  the  reason  that  a  so-called  last  cause  would 
necessarily  produce  an  effect,  and  that  effect  must 
of  necessity  become  a  cause.  The  converse  of 
these  propositions  must  be  true.  Every  effect 
must  have  had  a  cause,  and  every  cause  must^ 
have  been  an  effect.  Therefore,  there  could  have 
been  no  first  cause.  A  first  cause  is  just  as  im- 
possible as  a  last  effect. 

Beyond  the  universe  there  is  nothing,  and 
within  the  universe  the  supernatural  does  not  and 
cannot  exist. 

The  moment  these  great  truths  are  understood 
and  admitted,  a  belief  in  general  or  special  prov- 
idence becomes  impossible.  From  that  instant 
men  will  cease  their  vain  efforts  to  please  an  im- 
aginary being,  and  will  give  their  time  and  atten- 
tion   to   the    affairs    of    this    world.      They    will 


58  THE   GODS. 


abandon  the  idea  of  attaining  any  object  by 
prayer  and  supplication.  The  element  of  uncer- 
tainty will,  in  a  great  measure,  be  removed  from 
the  domain  of  the  future,  and  man,  gathering 
courage  from  a  succession  of  victories  over  the 
obstructions  of  nature,  will  attain  a  serene 
grandeur  unknown  to  the  disciples  of  any  su- 
perstition. The  plans  of  mankind  will  no  longer 
be  interfered  with  by  the  finger  of  a  supposed 
omnipotence,  and  no  one  will  believe  that  nations 
or  individuals  are  protected  or  destroyed  by  any 
deity  whatever.  Science,  freed  from  the  chains 
of  pious  custom  and  evangelical  prejudice,  will, 
within  her  sphere,  be  supreme.  The  mind  will 
investigate  without  reverence,  and  publish  its  con- 
clusions without  fear.  Agassiz  will  no  longer 
hesitate  to  declare  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  demonstrated  truths  of  geol- 
ogy, and  will  cease  pretending  any  reverence  for 
the  Jewish  scriptures.  The  moment  science  suc- 
ceeds in  rendering  the  church  powerless  for  evil, 
the  real  thinkers  will  be  outspoken.  The  little 
flags  of  truce  carried  by  timid  philosophers  will 
disappear,  and  the  cowardly  parley  will  give  place 
to  victory  —  lasting  and  universal. 


THE   GODS.  59 


If  we  admit  that  some  infinite  being  has  con- 
trolled the  destinies  of  persons  and  peoples,  his- 
tory becomes  a  most  cruel  and  bloody  farce.  Age 
after  age,  the  strong  have  trampled  upon  the 
weak ;  the  crafty  and  heartless  have  ensnared  and 
enslaved  the  simple  and  innocent,  and  nowhere, 
in  all  the  annals  of  mankind,  has  any  god  suc- 
cored the  oppressed. 

Man  should  cease  to  expect  aid  from  on  high. 
By  this  time  he  should  know  that  heaven  has 
no  ear  to  hear,  and  no  hand  to  help.  The  pres- 
ent is  the  necessary  child  of  all  the  past.  There 
has  been  no  chance,  and  there  can  be  no  inter- 
ference. 

If  abuses  are  destroyed,  man  must  destroy 
them.  If  slaves  are  freed,  man  must  free  them. 
If  new  truths  are  discovered,  man  must  discover 
them.  If  the  naked  are  clothed ;  if  the  hungry 
are  fed ;  if  justice  is  done  ;  if  labor  is  rewarded ; 
if  superstition  is  driven  from  the  mind  ;  if  the 
defenseless  are  protected,  and  if  the  right  finally 
triumphs,  all  must  be  the  work  of  man.  The 
grand  victories  of  the  future  must  be  won  by 
man,  and  by  man  alone. 

Nature,  so  far  as  we  can  discern,  without  pas- 


60  THE  GODS, 


sion  and  without  intention,  forms,  transforms,  and 
retransforms  forever.     She  neither  weeps  nor  re- 
joices.     She  produces  man  without   purpose,  and 
obliterates    him    without    regret      She  knows    no 
distinction    between    the    beneficial   and  the  hurt- 
ful.    Poison  and  nutrition,  pain  and  joy,  life  and 
death,  smiles  and  tears  are  alike  to  her.     She   is 
neither  merciful   nor  cruel.      She  cannot  be    flat- 
tered by  worship   nor  melted  by  tears.     She  does 
not  know  even    the  attitude   of   prayer.     She  ap- 
preciates   no    difference    between    poison    in    the 
fangs  of  snakes  and  mercy  in  the   hearts  of  men. 
Only  through   man   does    nature   take   cognizance 
of  the  good,  the  true,  and   the  beautiful ;    and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  man   is    the   highest    intelligence. 
And  yet  man  continues  to   believe   that   there 
is   some    power   independent  of  and    superior   to 
nature,   and    still    endeavors,    by    form,   ceremony, 
supplication,  hypocrisy  and  sacrifice,  to  obtain  its 
aid.     His  best  energies  have  been   wasted  in  the 
service  of   this   phantom.     The   horrors  of  witch- 
craft  were  all   born  of   an   ignorant  belief   in  the 
existence  of  a  totally  depraved  being  superior  to 
nature,  acting  in  perfect  independence  of  her  laws ; 
and    all    religious    superstition    has    had    for   its 


THE  GODS.  61 

basis  a  belief  in  at  least  two  beings,  one  good 
and  the  other  bad,  both  of  whom  could  arbi- 
trarily change  the  order  of  the  universe.  The 
history  of  religion  is  simply  the  story  of  man's 
efforts  in  all  ages  to  avoid  one  of  these  powers, 
and  to  pacify  the  other.  Both  powers  have 
inspired  little  else  than  abject  fear.  The  cold, 
calculating  sneer  of  the  devil,  and  the  frown  of 
God,  were  equally  terrible.  In  any  event,  mans 
fate  was  to  be  arbitrarily  fixed  forever  by  an 
unknown  power  superior  to  all  law,  and  to  all 
fc  :t.  Until  this  belief  is  thrown  aside,  man  must 
consider  himself  the  slave  of  phantom  masters  — 
neither  of  whom  promise  liberty  in  this  world 
nor  in  the  next. 

Man  must  learn  to  rely  upon  himself.  Read- 
ing bibles  will  not  protect  him  from  the  blasts 
of  winter,  but  houses,  fires,  and  clothing  will. 
To  prevent  famine,  one  plow  is  worth  a  million 
sermons,  and  even  patent  medicines  will  cure 
more  diseases  than  all  the  prayers  uttered  since 
the  beorinninor  of  the  world. 

o  o 

Although  many  eminent  men  have  endeav- 
ored to  harmonize  necessity  and  free  will,  the 
existence  of  evil,  and  the  infinite  power  and  good- 


62  THE  GODS. 


ness  of  God,  they  have  succeeded  only  in  pro- 
ducing learned  and  ingenious  failures.  Immense 
efforts  have  been  made  to  reconcile  ideas  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  facts  by  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded, and  all  persons  who  have  failed  to  per- 
ceive the  pretended  reconciliation,  have  been 
denounced  as  infidels,  atheists  and  scoffers.  The 
whole  power  of  the  church  has  been  brought  to 
bear  against  philosophers  and  scientists  in  order 
to  compel  a  denial  of  the  authority  of  demon- 
stration, and  to  induce  some  Judas  to  betray  Rea- 
son, one  of  the  saviors  of  mankind, 

During  that  frightful  period  known  as  the 
"  Dark  Ages/'  Faith  reigned,  with  scarcely  a  re- 
bellious subject.  Her  temples  were  "  carpeted 
with  knees,"  and  the  wealth  of  nations  adorned 
her  countless  shrines.  The  great  painters  pros- 
tituted their  genius  to  immortalize  her  vagaries, 
while  the  poets  enshrined  them  in  song.  At  her 
bidding,  man  covered  the  earth  with  blood.  The 
scales  of  justice  were  turned  with  her  gold,  and 
for  her  use  were  invented  all  the  cunning"  instru- 
ments  of  pain.  She  built  cathedrals  for  God, 
and  dungeons  for  men.  She  peopled  the  clouds 
with  angels  and  the  earth  with  slaves.     For  cen- 


THE   GODS.  63 


turies  the  world  was  retracing  its  steps  —  going 
steadily  back  towards  barbaric  night !  A  few 
infidels  —  a  few  heretics  cried,  "Halt!"  to  the 
great  rabble  of  ignorant  devotion,  and  made  it 
possible  for  the  genius  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  revolutionize  the  cruel  creeds  and  supersti- 
tions of   mankind. 

The  thoughts  of  man,  in  order  to  be  of  any 
real  worth,  must  be  free.  Under  the  influence 
of  fear  the  brain  is  paralyzed,  and  instead  of 
bravely  solving  a  problem  for  itself,  tremblingly 
adopts  the  solution  of  another.  As  long  as  a 
majority  of  men  will  cringe  to  the  very  earth 
before  some  petty  prince  or  king,  what  must  be 
the  infinite  abjectness  of  their  little  souls  in  the 
presence  of  their  supposed  creator  and  God  ? 
Under  such  circumstances,  what  can  their  thoughts 
be  worth  ? 

The  originality  of  repetition,  and  the  mental 
vigor  of  acquiescence,  are  all  that  we  have  any 
right  to  expect  from  the  Christian  world.  As 
long  as  every  question  is  answered  by  the  word 
"god,"  scientific  inquiry  is  simply  impossible, 
As  fast  as  phenomena  are  satisfactorily  explained 
the  domain  of  the  power,  supposed  to  be  superior 


64  THE  GODS. 


to    nature    must    decrease,  while    the    horizon    of 
the  known  must  as  constantly  continue  to  enlarge. 

It  is  no  longer  satisfactory  to  account  for  the 
fall  and  rise  of  nations  by  saying,  "It  is  the  will 
of  God."  Such  an  explanation  puts  ignorance  and 
education  upon  an  exact  equality,  and  does  away 
with  the  idea  of  really  accounting  for  anything 
whatever. 

Will  the  religionist  pretend  that  the  real  end 
of  science  is  to  ascertain  how  and  why  God  acts  ? 
Science,  from  such  a  standpoint  would  consist  in 
investigating  the  law  of  arbitrary  action,  and  in 
a  grand  endeavor  to  ascertain  the  rules  neces- 
sarily obeyed    by  infinite  caprice. 

From  a  philosophical  point  of  view,  science 
is  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  life ;  of  the  condi- 
tions of  happiness  ;  of  the  facts  by  which  we  are 
surrounded,  and  the  relations  we  sustain  to  men 
and  things  —  by  means  of  which,  man,  so  to 
speak,  subjugates  nature  and  bends  the  ele- 
mental powers  to  his  will,  making  blind  force 
the  servant  of    his  brain. 

A  belief  in  special  providence  does  away  with 
the  spirit  of  investigation,  and  is  inconsistent 
with  personal  effort     Why  should  man  endeavor 


THE  GODS.  65 


to  thwart  the  designs  of  God?  Which  of  you, 
by  taking  thought,  can  add  one  cubit  to  his  stat- 
ure ?  Under  the  influence  of  this  belief,  man, 
basking  in  the  sunshine  of  a  delusion,  considers 
the  lilies  of  the  field  and  refuses  to  take  any 
thought  for  the  morrow.  Believing  himself  in  the 
power  of  an  infinite  being,  who  can,  at  any  mo- 
ment, dash  him  to  the  lowest  hell  or  raise  him  to 
the  highest  heaven,  he  necessarily  abandons  the 
idea  of  accomplishing  anything  by  his  own  ef- 
forts. As  long  as  this  belief  was  general,  the 
world  was  filled  with  ignorance,  superstition  and 
misery.  The  energies  of  man  were  wasted  in  a 
vain  effort  to  obtain  the  aid  of  this  power,  sup- 
posed to  be  superior  to  nature.  For  countless 
ages,  even  men  were  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of 
this  impossible  god.  To  please  him,  mothers 
have  shed  the  blood  of  their  own  babes  ;  martyrs 
have  chanted  triumphant  songs  in  the  midst  of 
flame ;  priests  have  gorged  themselves  with  blood ; 
nuns  have  forsworn  the  ecstacies  of  love ;  old 
men  have  tremblingly  implored  ;  women  have 
sobbed  and  entreated  ;  every  pain  has  been  en- 
dured, and  every  horror  has  been  perpetrated. 
Through  the  dim  long  years  that  have  fled, 
5 


66  THE  GODS. 


humanity  has  suffered  more  than  can  be  con- 
ceived. Most  of  the  misery  has  been  endured 
by  the  weak,  the  loving  and  the  innocent.  Wo- 
men have  been  treated  like  poisonous  beasts, 
and  little  children  trampled  upon  as  though 
they  had  been  vermin.  Numberless  altars  have 
been  reddened,  even  with  the  blood  of  babes ; 
beautiful  girls  have  been  given  to  slimy  serpents  ; 
whole  races  of  men  doomed  to  centuries  of 
slavery,  and  everywhere  there  has  been  outrage 
beyond  the  power  of  genius  to  express.  During 
all  these  years  the  suffering  have  supplicated ; 
the  withered  lips  of  famine  have  prayed ;  the 
pale  victims  have  implored,  and  Heaven  has 
been  deaf  and  blind. 

Of  what  use  have  the  gfods  been  to  man  ? 

It  is  no  answer  to  say  that  some  god  created 
the  world,  established  certain  laws,  and  then 
turned  his  attention  to  other  matters,  leaving  his 
children  weak,  ignorant  and  unaided,  to  fight  the 
battle  of  life  alone.  It  is  no  solution  to  declare 
that  in  some  other  world  this  god  will  render 
a  few,  or  even  all,  his  subjects  happy.  What 
right  have  we  to  expect  that  a  perfectly  wise, 
good  and  powerful  being  will  ever  do  better  than 


THE  GODS.  67 


he  has  done,  and  is  doing?  The  world  is  filled 
with  imperfections.  If  it  was  made  by  an  infi- 
nite being,  what  reason  have  we  for  saying  that 
he  will  render  it  nearer  perfect  than  it  now  is  ? 
If  the  infinite  "Father"  allows  a  majority  of  his 
children  to  live  in  ignorance  and  wretchedness 
now,  what  evidence  is  there  that  he  will  ever 
improve  their  condition  ?  Will  God  have  more 
power?  Will  he  become  more  merciful?  Will 
his  love  for  his  poor  creatures  increase?  Can 
the  conduct  of  infinite  wisdom,  power  and  love 
ever  change?  Is  the  infinite  capable  of  any  im- 
provement whatever? 

We  are  informed  by  the  clergy  that  this  world 
is  a  kind  of  school ;  that  the  evils  by  which 
we  are  surrounded  are  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
veloping our  souls,  and  that  only  by  suffering 
can  men  become  pure,  strong,  virtuous  and 
grand. 

Supposing  this  to  be  true,  what  is  to  become 
of  those  who  die  in  infancy?  The  little  chil- 
dren, according  to  this  philosophy,  can  never  be 
developed.  They  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  escape 
the  ennobling  influences  of  pain  and  misery,  and 
as  a  consequence,  are  doomed  to   an  eternity  of 


68  THE  GODS. 


mental  inferiority.  If  the  clergy  are  right  on  this 
question,  none  are  so  unfortunate  as  the  happy, 
and  we  should  envy  only  the  suffering  and  dis- 
tressed. If  evil  is  necessary  to  the  development 
of  man,  in  this  life,  how  is  it  possible  for  the 
soul  to  improve  in  the  perfect  joy  of  paradise? 

Since  Paley  found  his  watch,  the  argument 
of  "  design "  has  been  relied  upon  as  unanswera- 
ble. The  Church  teaches  that  this  world,  and  all 
that  it  contains,  were  created  substantially  as  we 
now  see  them  ;  that  the  grasses,  the  flowers,  the 
trees,  and  all  animals,  including  man,  were  special 
creations,  and  that  they  sustain  no  necessary  re- 
lation to  each  other.  The  most  orthodox  will 
admit  that  some  earth  has  been  washed  into  the 
sea ;  that  the  sea  has  encroached  a  little  upon 
the  land,  and  that  some  mountains  may  be  a 
trifle  lower  than  in  the  morning  of  creation. 
The  theory  of  gradual  development  was  unknown 
to  our  fathers ;  the  idea  of  evolution  did  not 
occur  to  them.  Our  fathers  looked  upon  the 
then  arrangement  of  things  as  the  primal  ar- 
rangement. The  earth  appeared  to  them  fresh 
from  the  hands  of  a  deity.  They  knew  nothing 
of    the    slow    evolutions    of   countless    years,  but 


THE   GODS.  69 


supposed  that  the  almost  infinite  variety  of  veg- 
etable and  animal  forms  had  existed  from  the  first 
Suppose    that    upon    some    island    we    should 
find  a  man  a  million  years  of  age,  and  suppose 
that  we  should  find  him  in   the  possession  of  a 
most  beautiful  carriage,  constructed  upon  the  most 
perfect    model.      And    suppose,  further,   that    he 
should  tell   us   that  it   was   the  result  of  several 
hundred  thousand  years  of  labor  and  of  thought ; 
that    for    fifty   thousand   years    he  used  as   flat  a 
loe   as    he  could   find,  before  it  occurred  to  him, 
that  by  splitting  the  log,  he  could  have  the  same 
surface  with   only  half   the  weight ;    that  it  took 
him  many  thousand  years    to    invent    wheels  for 
this  loe ;  that  the  wheels  he  first  used  were  solid, 
and    that    fifty    thousand    years    of   thought    sug- 
gested the  use  of  spokes  and  tire  ;  that  for  many 
centuries  he  used  the  wheels   without    linch-pins  ; 
that  it  took  a  hundred  thousand    years    more    to 
think  of  using  four  wheels,  instead  of  two  ;    that 
for    ages    he    walked    behind    the   carriage,  when 
going    down    hill,  in    order    to   hold  it  back,  and 
that    only    by    a    lucky    chance    he    invented  the 
tono-ue:    would  we  conclude    that  this  man,  from 
the   very   first,   had   been   an    infinitely  ingenious 


70  THE  GODS. 

and  perfect  mechanic  ?  Suppose  we  found  him 
living  in  an  elegant  mansion,  and  he  should  in- 
form us  that  he  lived  in  that  house  for  five  hun- 
dred thousand  years  before  he  thought  of  putting 
on  a  roof,  and  that  he  had  but  recently  invented 
windows  and  doors ;  would  we  say  that  from  the 
beginning  he  had  been  an  infinitely  accomplished 
and  scientific  architect? 

Does  not  an  improvement  in  the  things  cre- 
ated, show  a  corresponding  improvement  in  the 
creator? 

Would  an  infinitely  wise,  good  and  powerful 
God,  intending  to  produce  man,  commence  with 
the  lowest  possible  forms  of  life ;  with  the  sim- 
plest organism  that  can  be  imagined,  and  during 
immeasurable  periods  of  time,  slowly  and  almost 
imperceptibly  improve  upon  the  rude  beginning, 
until    man    was    evolved  ?     Would  countless  aees 

o 

thus  be  wasted  in  the  production  of  awkward 
forms,  afterwards  abandoned?  Can  the  intelli- 
gence of  man  discover  the  least  wisdom  in  cov- 
ering the  earth  with  crawling,  creeping  horrors, 
that  live  only  upon  the  agonies  and  pangs  of 
others  ?  Can  we  see  the  propriety  of  so  con- 
structing the  earth,  that  only  an  insignificant  por- 


THE  GODS.  71 


tion  of  its  surface  is  capable  of  producing  an 
intelligent  man  ?  Who  can  appreciate  the  mercy 
of  so  making  the  world  that  all  animals  devour 
animals ;  so  that  every  mouth  is  a  slaughter- 
house, and  every  stomach  a  tomb?  Is  it  possible 
to  discover  infinite  intelligence  and  love  in  uni- 
versal  and  eternal  carnage  ? 

What  would  we  think  of  a  father,  who  should 
give  a  farm  to  his  children,  and  before  giving 
them  possession  should  plant  upon  it  thousands 
of  deadly  shrubs  and  vines ;  should  stock  it  with 
ferocious  beasts,  and  poisonous  reptiles ;  should 
take  pains  to  put  a  few  swamps  in  the  neighbor- 
hood to  breed  malaria ;  should  so  arrange  mat- 
ters, that  the  ground  would  occasionally  open 
and  swallow  a  few  of  his  darlings,  and  besides 
all  this,  should  establish  a  few  volcanoes  in  the 
immediate  vicinity,  that  might  at  any  moment 
overwhelm  his  children  with  rivers  of  fire  ?  Sup- 
pose that  this  father  neglected  to  tell  his  children 
which  of  the  plants  were  deadly ;  that  the  rep- 
tiles were  poisonous ;  failed  to  say  anything  about 
the  earthquakes,  and  kept  the  volcano  business  a 
profound  secret ;  would  we  pronounce  him  angel 
or  fiend? 


72  THE  GODS. 


And  yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  orthodox 
God  has  done. 

According  to  the  theologians,  God  prepared 
this  globe  expressly  for  the  habitation  of  his 
loved  children,  and  yet  he  filled  the  forests  with 
ferocious  beasts  ;  placed  serpents  in  every  path  ; 
stuffed  the  world  with  earthquakes,  and  adorned 
its  surface  with  mountains  of  flame. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  are  told  that  the 
world  is  perfect ;  that  it  was  created  by  a  perfect 
being,  and  is  therefore  necessarily  perfect.  The 
next  moment,  these  same  persons  will  tell  us  that 
the  world  was  cursed ;  covered  with  brambles, 
thistles  and  thorns,  and  that  man  was  doomed 
to  disease  and  death,  simply  because  our  poor, 
dear  mother  ate  an  apple  contrary  to  the  com- 
mand of  an  arbitrary  God. 

A  very  pious  friend  of  mine,  having  heard 
that  I  had  said  the  world  was  full  of  imperfec- 
tions, asked  me  if  the  report  was  true.  Upon 
being  informed  that  it  was,  he  expressed  great 
surprise  that  any  one  could  be  guilty  of  such  pre- 
sumption. He  said  that,  in  his  judgment,  it, was 
impossible  to  point  out  an  imperfection.  "  Be 
kind    enough,"   said    he,   "  to    name   even  one  im- 


THE  GODS.  73 


movement  that  you  could  make,  if  you  had  the 
power."  "Well,"  said  I,  "  I  would  make  good 
health  catching,  instead  of  disease."  The  truth  is, 
it  is  impossible  to  harmonize  all  the  ills,  and 
pains,  and  agonies  of  this  world  with  the  idea 
that  we  were  created  by,  and  are  watched  over 
and  protected  by  an  infinitely  wise,  powerful  and 
beneficent  God,  who  is  superior  to  and  inde- 
pendent of  nature. 

The  clergy,  however,  balance  all  the  real  ills 
of  this  life  with  the  expected  joys  of  the  next. 
We  are  assured  that  all  is  perfection  in  heaven 
—  there  the  skies  are  cloudless  —  there  all  is 
serenity  and  peace.  Here  empires  may  be  over' 
thrown ;  dynasties  may  be  extinguished  in  blood ; 
millions  of  slaves  may  toil  'neath  the  fierce  rays 
of  the  sun,  and  the  cruel  strokes  of  the  lash ; 
yet  all  is  happiness  in  heaven.  Pestilences  may 
strew  the  earth  with  corpses  of  the  loved;  the 
survivors  may  bend  above  them  in  agony  —  yet 
the  placid  bosom  of  heaven  is  unruffled.  Chil- 
dren may  expire  vainly  asking  for  bread  ;  babes 
may  be  devoured  by  serpents,  while  the  gods  sit 
smiling  in  the  clouds.  The  innocent  may  Ian- 
guish  unto  death  in    the  obscurity  of   dungeons; 


THE   GODS. 


brave  men  and  heroic  women  may  be  changed 
to  ashes  at  the  bigot's  stake,  while  heaven  is 
filled  with  song  and  joy.  Out  on  the  wide  sea, 
in  darkness  and  in  storm,  the  shipwrecked  struggle 
with  the  cruel  waves  while  the  angels  play  upon 
their  golden  harps.  The  streets  of  the  world 
are  filled  with  the  diseased,  the  deformed  and 
the  helpless ;  the  chambers  of  pain  are  crowded 
with  the  pale  forms  of  the  suffering,  while  the 
angels  float  and  fly  in  the  happy  realms  of  day. 
In  heaven  they  are  too  happy  to  have  sympathy; 
too  busy  singing  to  aid  the  imploring  and  dis- 
tressed. Their  eyes  are  blinded  ;  their  ears  are 
stopped  and  their  hearts  are  turned  to  stone  by 
the  infinite  selfishness  of  joy.  The  saved  mar- 
iner is  too  happy  when  he  touches  the  shore  to 
give  a  moment's  thought  to  his  drowning  broth- 
ers. With  the  indifference  of  happiness,  with  the 
contempt  of  bliss,  heaven  barely  glances  at  the 
miseries  of  earth.  Cities  are  devoured  by  the 
rushing  lava ;  the  earth  opens  and  thousands 
perish  ;  women  raise  their  clasped  hands  towards 
heaven,  but  the  gods  are  too  happy  to  aid  their 
children.  The  smiles  of  the  deities  are  unac- 
quainted with  the  tears  of  men.  The  shouts  of 
heaven  drown  the  sobs  of  earth. 


THE  GODS.  75 


Having  shown  how  man  created  gods,  and 
how  he  became  the  trembling  slave  of  his  own 
creation,  the  questions  naturally  arise:  How  did 
he  free  himself  even  a  little,  from  these  monarchs 
of  the  sky,  from  these  despots  of  the  clouds, 
from  this  aristocracy  of  the  air?  How  did  he, 
even  to  the  extent  that  he  has,  outgrow  his  ig- 
norant, abject  terror,  and  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
superstition  ? 

Probably,  the  first  thing  that  tended  to  dis- 
abuse his  mind  was  the  discovery  of  order,  of 
regularity,  of  periodicity  in  the  universe.  From 
this  he  began  to  suspect  that  everything  did  not 
happen  purely  with  reference  to  him.  He  no- 
ticed, that  whatever  he  might  do,  the  motions  of 
the  planets  were  always  the  same ;  that  eclipses 
were  periodical,  and  that  even  comets  came 
at  certain  intervals.  This  convinced  him  that 
eclipses  and  comets  had  nothing  to  do  with  him, 
and  that  his  conduct  had  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  He  perceived  that  they  were  not  caused 
for  his  benefit  or  injury.  He  thus  learned  to 
regard  them  with  admiration  instead  of  fear. 
He  began  to  suspect  that  famine  was  not  sent 
by  some  enraged    and    revengeful    deity,  but    re- 


76  THE  GODS. 


suited  often  from  the  neglect  and  ignorance  of 
man.  He  learned  that  diseases  were  not  pro- 
duced by  evil  spirits.  He  found  that  sickness 
was  occasioned  by  natural  causes,  and  could  be 
cured  by  natural  means.  He  demonstrated,  to 
his  own  satisfaction  at  least,  that  prayer  is  not 
a  medicine.  He  found  by  sad  experience  that 
his  gods  were  of  no  practical  use,  as  they  never 
assisted  him,  except  when  he  was  perfectly  able 
to  help  himself.  At  last,  he  began  to  discover 
that  his  individual  action  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  strange  appearances  in  the  heavens ; 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  bad  enough 
to  cause  a  whirlwind,  or  good  enough  to  stop 
one.  After  many  centuries  of  thought,  he  about 
half  concluded  that  making  mouths  at  a  priest 
would  not  necessarily  cause  an  earthquake.  He 
noticed,  and  no  doubt  with  considerable  astonish- 
ment, that  very  good  men  were  occasionally 
struck  by  lightning,  while  very  bad  ones  escaped. 
He  was  frequently  forced  to  the  painful  con- 
clusion (and  it  is  the  most  painful  to  which  any 
human  being  ever  was  forced)  that  the  right 
did  not  always  prevail.  He  noticed  that  the 
gods    did    not    interfere    in    behalf  of    the    weak 


THE  GODS.  77 


and  innocent.  He  was  now  and  then  aston- 
ished by  seeing  an  unbeliever  in  the  enjoyment 
of  most  excellent  health.  He  finally  ascertained 
that  there  could  be  no  possible  connection  be- 
tween an  unusually  severe  winter  and  his  failure 
to  give  a  sheep  to  a  priest.  He  began  to  sus- 
pect that  the  order  of  the  universe  was  not  con- 
stantly being  changed  to  assist  him  because  he 
repeated  a  creed.  He  observed  that  some  chil- 
dren would  steal  after  having  been  regularly 
baptized.  He  noticed  a  vast  difference  between 
religion  and  justice,  and  that  the  worshipers  of 
the  same  God,  took  delight  in  cutting  each 
other's  throats.  He  saw  that  these  religious  dis- 
putes filled  the  world  with  hatred  and  slavery. 
At  last  he  had  the  courage  to  suspect,  that  no 
God  at  any  time  interferes  with  the  order  of 
events.  He  learned  a  few  facts,  and  these  facts 
positively  refused  to  harmonize  with  the  igno- 
rant superstitions  of  his  fathers.  Finding  his 
sacred  books  incorrect  and  false  in  some  par- 
ticulars, his  faith  in  their  authenticity  began  to 
be  shaken ;  finding  his  priests  ignorant  upon 
some  points,  he  began  to  lose  respect  for  the 
cloth.  This  was  the  commencement  of  intel- 
lectual  freedom. 


78  THE  GODS. 


The  civilization  of  man  has  increased  just  to 
the    same    extent    that    religious    power    has    de- 
creased.     The    intellectual    advancement    of   man 
depends    upon    how    often    he    can    exchange  an 
old   superstition   for   a    new    truth.       The  Church 
never  enabled  a  human  being  to  make  even  one 
of    these    exchanges ;     on    the  contrary,    all    her 
power  has  been   used  to  prevent  them.     In  spite, 
however,    of    the  Church,  man    found   that    some 
of    his    religious    conceptions    were    wrong.       By 
reading  his  bible,  he  found  that  the  ideas  of  his 
God  were  more  cruel    and  brutal    than  those  of 
the  most   depraved    savage.       He   also  discovered 
that    this    holy    book    was    filled    with    ignorance, 
and    that   it  must   have  been   written   by   persons 
wholly  unacquainted   with   the  nature  of  the  phe- 
nomena by  which  we    are  surrounded ;    and    now 
and  then,  some  man  had  the  goodness  and  cour- 
age   to    speak    his    honest    thoughts.        In    every 
age    some    thinker,  some    doubter,   some    investi- 
gator, some  hater  of  hypocrisy,  some   despiser  of 
sham,  some  brave  lover  of  the  right,  has  gladly, 
proudly  and    heroically  braved   the   ignorant  fury 
of  superstition    for    the  sake  of   man   and    truth. 
These  divine  men  were  generally  torn  in  pieces 


THE  GODS.  79 


by  the  worshipers  of  the  gods.  Socrates  was 
poisoned  because  he  lacked  reverence  for  some 
of  the  deities.  Christ  was  crucified  by  a  religious 
rabble  for  the  crime  of  blasphemy.  Nothing  is 
more  gratifying  to  a  religionist  than  to  destroy 
his  enemies  at  the  command  of  God.  Religious 
persecution  springs  from  a  due  admixture  of  love 
towards  God  and   hatred  towards  man. 

The  terrible  religious  wars  that  inundated  the 
world  with  blood  tended  at  least  to  bring  all  re- 
ligion into  disgrace  and  hatred.  Thoughtful 
people  began  to  question  the  divine  origin  of  a 
religion  that  made  its  believers  hold  the  rights 
of  others  in  absolute  contempt.  A  few  began  to 
compare  Christianity  with  the  religions  of  hea- 
then people,  and  were  forced  to  admit  that  the 
difference  was  hardly  worth  dying  for.  They 
also  found  that  other  nations  were  even  happier 
and  more  prosperous  than  their  own.  They  began 
to  suspect  that  their  religion,  after  all,  was  not  of 
much  real  value. 

For  three  hundred  years  the  Christian  world 
endeavored  to  rescue  from  the  "  Infidel  n  the  empty 
sepulchre  of  Christ.  For  three  hundred  years  the 
armies  of  the  cross  were  baffled  and  beaten  by  the 


80  THE  GODS. 


victorious  hosts  of  an  impudent  impostor.  This 
immense  fact  sowed  the  seeds  of  distrust  through- 
out all  Christendom,  and  millions  began  to  lose 
confidence  in  a  God  who  had  been  vanquished  by 
Mohammed.  The  people  also  found  that  com- 
merce made  friends  where  religion  made  enemies, 
and  that  religious  zeal  was  utterly  incompatible 
with  peace  between  nations  or  individuals.  They 
discovered  that  those  who  loved  the  gods  most 
were  apt  to  love  men  least ;  that  the  arrogance 
of  universal  forgiveness  was  amazing ;  that  the 
most  malicious  had  the  effrontery  to  pray  for  their 
enemies,  and  that  humility  and  tyranny  were  the 
fruit  of  the  same  tree. 

For  ages,  a  deadly  conflict  has  been  waged 
between  a  few  brave  men  and  women  of  thought 
and  genius  upon  the  one  side,  and  the  great  igno- 
rant religious  mass  on  the  other.  This  is  the 
war  between  Science  and  Faith.  The  few  have 
appealed  to  reason,  to  honor,  to  law,  to  freedom 
to  the  known,  and  to  happiness  here  in  this  world. 
The  many  have  appealed  to  prejudice,  to  fear,  to 
miracle,  to  slavery,  to  the  unknown,  and  to  misery 
hereafter.  The  few  have  said,  "  Think ! "  The 
many  have  said,  "  Believe  ! " 


THE  GODS.  81 


The  first  doubt  was  the  womb  and  cradle  of 
progress,  and  from  the  first  doubt,  man  has  con- 
tinued to  advance.  Men  began  to  investigate,, 
and  the  church  began  to  oppose.  The  astron- 
omer scanned  the  heavens,  while  the  church 
branded  his  grand  forehead  with  the  word,  "  In- 
fidel ;"  and  now,  not  a  glittering  star  in  all  the 
vast  expanse  bears  a  Christian  name.  In  spite 
of  all  religion,  the  geologist  penetrated  the  earth, 
read  her  history  in  books  of  stone,  and  found, 
hidden  within  her  bosom,  souvenirs  of  all  the 
ages.  Old  ideas  perished  in  the  retort  of  the 
chemist,  and  useful  truths  took  their  places.  One 
by  one  religious  conceptions  have  been  placed  in 
the  crucible  of  science,  and  thus  far,  nothing  but 
dross  has  been  found.  A  new  world  has  been 
discovered  by  the  microscope ;  everywhere  has 
been  found  the  infinite ;  in  every  direction  man 
has  investigated  and  explored,  and  nowhere,  in 
earth  or  stars,  has  been  found  the  footstep  of 
any  being  superior  to  or  independent  of  nature. 
Nowhere  has  been  discovered  the  slightest  evi- 
dence of   any  interference  from  without. 

These  are  the  sublime  truths  that  enabled 
man  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  superstition.     These 


THE  GODS. 


are  the  splendid  facts  that  snatched  the  sceptre  of 
authority  from  the  hands  of  priests. 

In  that  vast  cemetery,  called  the  past,  are 
most  of  the  religions  of  men,  and  there,  too,  are 
nearly  all  their  gods.  The  sacred  temples  of 
India  were  ruins  long  ago.  Over  column  and 
cornice ;  over  the  painted  and  pictured  walls,  cling 
and  creep  the  trailing  vines.  Brahma,  the  golden, 
with  four  heads  and  four  arms  ;  Vishnu,  the  som- 
bre, the  punisher  of  the  wicked,  with  his  three 
eyes,  his  crescent,  and  his  necklace  of  skulls ; 
Siva,  the  destroyer,  red  with  seas  of  blood  ;  Kali, 
the  goddess ;  Draupadi,  the  white-armed,  and 
Chrishna,  the  Christ,  all  passed  away  and  left  the 
thrones  of  heaven  desolate.  Alono-  the  banks 
of  the  sacred  Nile,  Isis  no  longer  wandering 
weeps,  searching  for  the  dead  Osiris.  The  shad- 
ow of  Typhons  scowl  falls  no  more  upon  the 
waves.  The  sun  rises  as  of  yore,  and  his  golden 
beams  still  smite  the  lips  of  Memnon,  but  Mem- 
non  is  as  voiceless  as  the  Sphinx.  The  sacred 
fanes  are  lost  in  desert  sands ;  the  dusty  mum- 
mies are  still  waiting  for  the  resurrection  prom- 
ised by  their  priests,  and  the  old  beliefs,  wrought 
in  curiously   sculptured  stone,  sleep  in    the    mys- 


THE  GODS.  83 


tery  of  a  language  lost  and  dead.  Odin,  the 
author  of  life  and  soul,  Vili  and  Ve,  and  the 
mighty  giant  Ymir,  strode  long  ago  from  the  icy 
halls  of  the  North ;  and  Thor,  with  iron  glove 
and  glittering  hammer,  dashes  mountains  to  the 
earth  no  more.  Broken  are  the  circles  and 
cromlechs  of  the  ancient  Druids  ;  fallen  upon  the 
summits  of  the  hills,  and  covered  with  the  cen- 
turies' moss,  are  the  sacred  cairns.  The  divine 
fires  of  Persia  and  of  the  Aztecs,  have  died  out 
in  the  ashes  of  the  past,  and  there  is  none  to 
rekindle,  and  none  to  feed  the  holy  flames.  The 
harp  of  Orpheus  is  still ;  the  drained  cup  of 
Bacchus  has  been  thrown  aside  ;  *Venus  lies  dead 
in  stone,  and  her  white  bosom  heaves  no  more 
with  love.  The  streams  still  murmur,  but  no 
naiads  bathe ;  the  trees  still  wave,  but  in  the 
forest  aisles  no  dryads  dance.  The  gods  have 
flown  from  high  Olympus.  Not  even  the  beau- 
tiful women  can  lure  them  back,  and  Danae  lies 
unnoticed,  naked  to  the  stars.  Hushed  forever 
are  the  thunders  of  Sinai ;  lost  are  the  voices 
of  the  prophets,  and  the  land  once  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  is  but  a  desert  waste.  One  by 
one,  the  myths  have  faded  from  the  clouds :  one 


84  THE  GODS. 


by  one,  the  phantom  host  has  disappeared,  and 
one  by  one,  facts,  truths  and  realities  have  taken 
their  places.  The  supernatural  has  almost  gone, 
but  the  natural  remains.  The  gods  have  fled, 
but  man  is  here. 

Nations,  like  individuals,  have  their  periods  of 
youth,  of  manhood  and  decay.  Religions  are  the 
same.  The  same  inexorable  destiny  awaits  them 
all.  The  gods  created  by  the  nations  must  per- 
ish with  their  creators.  They  were  created  by 
men,  and  like  men,  they  must  pass  away.  The 
deities  of  one  age  are  the  by-words  of  the  next. 
The  religion  of  our  day,  and  country,  is  no  more 
exempt  from  the  sneer  of  the  future  than  the 
others  have  been.  When  India  was  supreme, 
Brahma  sat  upon  the  worlds  throne.  When  the 
sceptre  passed  to  Egypt,  Isis  and  Osiris  received 
the  homage  of  mankind.  Greece,  with  her  fierce 
valor,  swept  to  empire,  and  Zeus  put  on  the 
purple  of  authority.  The  earth  trembled  with 
the  tread  of  Rome's  intrepid  sons,  and  Jove 
grasped  with  mailed  hand  the  thunderbolts  of 
heaven.  Rome  fell,  and  Christians  from  her  ter- 
ritory, with  the  red  sword  of  war,  carved  out 
the  ruling  nations   of   the  world,  and  now  Christ 


THE  GODS.  85 


sits  upon  the  old  throne.     Who  will  be  his  suc- 
cessor ? 

Day  by  day,  religious  conceptions  grow  less 
and  less  intense.  Day  by  day,  the  old  spirit 
dies  out  of  book  and  creed.  The  burning  enthu- 
siasm, the  quenchless  zeal  of  the  early  church 
have  gone,  never,  never  to  return.  The  ceremo- 
nies remain,  but  the  ancient  faith  is  fading  out 
of  the  human  heart.  The  worn-out  arguments 
fail  to  convince,  and  denunciations  that  once 
blanched  the  faces  of  a  race,  excite  in  us  only 
derision  and  disgust.  As  time  rolls  on,  the  mir- 
acles grow  mean  and  small,  and  the  evidences 
our  fathers  thought  conclusive  utterly  fail  to  sat- 
isfy us.  There  is  an  "  irrepressible  conflict "  be- 
tween religion  and  science,  and  they  cannot 
peaceably  occupy  the  same  brain  nor  the  same 
world. 

While  utterly  discarding  all  creeds,  and  deny- 
ing the  truth  of  all  religions,  there  is  neither  in 
my  heart  nor  upon  my  lips  a  sneer  for  the  hope- 
ful, loving  and  tender  souls  who  believe  that 
from  all  this  discord  will  result  a  perfect  har- 
mony ;  that  every  evil  will  in  some  mysterious 
way  become   a   good,   and    that   above   and  over 


86  THE  GODS. 


all  there  is  a  being  who,  in  some  way,  will  reclaim 
and  glorify  every  one  of  the  children  of  men  ; 
but  for  those  who  heartlessly  try  to  prove  that 
salvation  is  almost  impossible ;  that  damnation 
is  almost  certain  ;  that  the  highway  of  the  uni- 
verse leads  to  hell ;  who  fill  life  with  fear  and 
death  with  horror ;  who  curse  the  cradle  and 
mock  the  tomb,  it  is  impossible  to  entertain  other 
than  feelings  of  pity,  contempt  and  scorn. 

Reason,  Observation  and  Experience  —  the 
Holy  Trinity  of  Science  —  have  taught  us  that 
happiness  is  the  only  good  ;  that  the  time  to  be 
happy  is  now,  and  the  way  to  be  happy  is  to 
make  others  so.  This  is  enough  for  us.  In  this 
belief  we  are  content  to  live  and  die.  If  by  any 
possibility  the  existence  of  a  power  superior  to, 
and  independent  of,  nature  shall  be  demonstrated, 
there  will  then  be  time  enough  to  kneel.  Until 
then,  let  us  stand  erect. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  infidels  in  all 
ages  have  battled  for  the  rights  of  man,  and 
have  at  all  times  been  the  fearless  advocates  of 
liberty  and  justice,  we  are  constantly  charged  by 
the  Church  with  tearing  down  without  building 
again.      The  Church    should   by   this    time   know 


THE  GODS.  87 


that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  rob  men  of  their 
opinions.  The  history  of  religious  persecution 
fully  establishes  the  fact  that  the  mind  necessarily 
resists  and  defies  every  attempt  to  control  it  by 
violence.  The  mind  necessarily  clings  to  old 
ideas  until  prepared  for  the  new.  The  moment 
we  comprehend  the  truth,  all  erroneous  ideas  are 
of  necessity  cast  aside. 

A  surgeon  once  called  upon  a  poor  cripple 
and  kindly  offered  to  render  him  any  assistance 
in  his.  power.  The  surgeon  began  to  discourse 
very  learnedly  upon  the  nature  and  origin  of 
disease ;  of  the  curative  properties  of  certain 
medicines  ;  of  the  advantages  of  exercise,  air  and 
light,  and  of  the  various  ways  in  which  health 
and  strength  could  be  restored.  These  remarks 
were  so  full  of  good  sense,  and  discovered  so 
much  profound  thought  and  accurate  knowledge, 
that  the  cripple,  becoming  thoroughly  alarmed, 
cried  out,  "  Do  not,  I  pray  you,  take  away  my 
crutches.  They  are  my  only  support,  and  with- 
out them  I  should  be  miserable  indeed  ! "  "I  am 
not  going,"  said  the  surgeon,  "  to  take  away  your 
crutches.  I  am  going  to  cure  you,  and  then  you 
will  throw  the  crutches  away  yourself." 


88  THE   GODS. 


For  the  vagaries  of  the  clouds  the  infidels 
propose  to  substitute  the  realities  of  earth ;  for 
superstition,  the  splendid  demonstrations  and 
achievements  of  science  ;  and  for  theological  tyr- 
anny, the  chainless  liberty  of  thought. 

We  do  not  say  that  we  have  discovered  all ; 
that  our  doctrines  are  the  all  in  all  of  truth.  We 
know  of  no  end  to  the  development  of  man. 
We  cannot  unravel  the  infinite  complications  of 
matter  and  force.  The  history  of  one  monad  is 
as  unknown  as  that  of  the  universe ;  one  drop 
of  water  is  as  wonderful  as  all  the  seas  ;  one  leaf, 
as  all  the  forests ;  and  one  grain  of  sand,  as  all 
the  stars. 

We  are  not  endeavoring  to  chain  the  future, 
but  to  free  the  present.  We  are  not  forging  fet- 
ters for  our  children,  but  we  are  breaking  those 
our  fathers  made  for  us.  We  are  the  advocates 
of  inquiry,  of  investigation  and  thought.  This 
of  itself,  is  an  admission  that  we  are  not  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  all  our  conclusions.  Philoso- 
phy has  not  the  egotism  of  faith.  While  super- 
stition  builds  walls  and  creates  obstructions,  sci- 
ence opens  all  the  highways  of  thought.  We  do 
not  pretend  to  have  circumnavigated  everything, 


THE   GODS.  89 


and  to  have  solved  all  difficulties,  but  we  do  be- 
lieve that  it  is  better  to  love  men  than  to  fear 
gods  ;  that  it  is  grander  and  nobler  to  think  and 
investigate  for  yourself  than  to  repeat  a  creed. 
We  are  satisfied  that  there  can  be  but  little  lib- 
erty on  earth  while  men  worship  a  tyrant  in 
heaven.  We  do  not  expect  to  accomplish  every- 
thing in  our  day ;  but  we  want  to  do  what  good 
we  can,  and  to  render  all  the  service  possible  in 
the  holy  cause  of  human  progress.  We  know 
that  doing  away  with  gods  and  supernatural  per- 
sons and  powers  is  not  an  end.  It  is  a  means 
to  an  end :  the  real  end  being  the  happiness 
of  man. 

Felling  forests  is  not  the  end  of  agriculture. 
Driving  pirates  from  the  sea  is  not  all  there  is 
of  commerce. 

We  are  laying  the  foundations  of  the  grand 
temple  of  the  future — not  the  temple  of  all  the 
gods,  but  of  all  the  people  —  wherein,  with  ap- 
propriate rites,  will  be  celebrated  the  religion  of 
Humanity.  We  are  doing  what  little  we  can  to 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  day  when  society  shall 
cease  producing  millionaires  and  mendicants  — 
gorged   indolence  and    famished    industry  —  truth 


90  THE   GODS. 


in  rags,  and  superstition  robed  and  crowned.  We 
are  looking  for  the  time  when  the  useful  shall 
be  the  honorable ;  and  when  Reason,  throned  upon 
the  world's  brain,  shall  be  the  King  of  Kings,  and 
God  of  Gods, 


HUMBOLDT. 


HUMBOLDT. 


The  Universe  is  Governed  by  Law. 

GREAT  men  seem  to  be  a  part  of  the  infinite 
—  brothers  of  the  mountains  and  the  seas. 

Humboldt  was  one  of  these.  He  was  one 
of  those  serene  men,  in  some  respects  like  our 
own  Franklin,  whose  names  have  all  the  lustre  of 
a  star.  He  was  one  of  the  few,  great  enough  to 
rise  above  the  superstition  and  prejudice  of  his 
time,  and  to  know  that  experience,  observation, 
and  reason  are  the  only  basis  of  knowledge. 

He  became  one  of  the  greatest  of  men  in  spite 
of  having  been  born  rich  and  noble  —  in  spite  of 
position.  I  say  in  spite  of  these  things,  because 
wealth  and  position  are  generally  the  enemies 
of  genius,  and  the   destroyers  of  talent. 

It  is  often  said  of  this  or  that  man,  that  he  is  a 
self-made  man  —  that  he  was  born  of  the  poorest 
and  humblest  parents,  and  that  with  every  obstacle 


94  HUMBOLDT. 


to  overcome  he  became  great.  This  is  a  mistake. 
Poverty  is  generally  an  advantage.  Most  of  the 
intellectual  giants  of  the  world  have  been  nursed 
at  the  sad  and  loving  breast  of  poverty.  Most  of 
those  who  have  climbed  highest  on  the  shining 
ladder  of  fame  commenced  at  the  lowest  round. 
They  were  reared  in  the  straw-thatched  cottages 
of  Europe  ;  in  the  log-houses  of  America ;  in  the 
factories  of  the  great  cities  ;  in  the  midst  of  toil ; 
in  the  smoke  and  din  of  labor,  and  on  the  verge  of 
want.  They  were  rocked  by  the  feet  of  mothers 
whose  hands,  at  the  same  time,  were  busy  with 
the  needle  or  the  wheel. 

It  is  hard  for  the  rich  to  resist  the  thousand 
allurements  of  pleasure,  and  so  I  say,  that  Hum- 
boldt, in  spite  of  having  been  born  to  wealth 
and  high  social  position,  became  truly  and 
grandly  great. 

In  the  antiquated  and  romantic  castle  of  Tegel, 
by  the  side  of  the  pine  forest,  on  the  shore  of 
the  charming  lake,  near  the  beautiful  city  of  Ber- 
lin, the  great  Humboldt,  one  hundred  years  ago 
to-day,  was  born,  and  there  he  was  educated  after 
the  method  suggested  by  Rousseau,  —  Campe,  the 
philologist  and  critic,  and  the   intellectual    Kunth 


HUMBOLDT.  95 


being  his  tutors.  There  he  received  the  impres- 
sions that  determined  his  career ;  there  the  great 
idea  that  the  universe  is  governed  by  law,  took 
possession  of  his  mind,  and  there  he  dedicated 
his  life  to  the  demonstration  of  this  sublime 
truth. 

He  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  source  of 
man's  unhappiness  is  his  ignorance  of  nature. 

After  having  received  the  most  thorough  edu- 
cation at  that  time  possible,  and  having  deter- 
mined to  what  end  he  would  devote  the  labors 
of  his  life,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  sci- 
ences of  geology,  mining,  mineralogy,  botany,  the 
distribution  of  plants,  the  distribution  of  animals, 
and  the  effect  of  climate  upon  man.  All  grand 
physical  phenomena  were  investigated  and  ex- 
plained. From  his  youth  he  had  felt  a  great 
desire  for  travel.  He  felt,  as  he  says,  a  violent 
passion  for  the  sea,  and  longed  to  look  upon  na- 
ture in  her  wildest  and  most  rumored  forms.  He 
longed  to  give  a"  physical  description  of  the  uni- 
verse—  a  grand  picture  of  nature;  to  account  for 
all  phenomena ;  to  discover  the  laws  governing 
the  world ;  to  do  away  with  that  splendid  delu- 
sion called  special  providence,  and  to  establish 
the  fact  that  the  universe  is  governed  by  law. 


9G  HUMBOLDT. 


To  establish  this  truth  was,  and  is,  of  infinite 
importance  to  mankind.  That  fact  is  the  death- 
knell  of  superstition  ;  it  gives  liberty  to  every 
soul,  annihilates  fear,  and  ushers  in  the  Age  of 
Reason. 

The  object  of  this  illustrious  man  was  to 
comprehend  the  phenomena  of  physical  objects 
in  their  general  connection,  and  to  represent  na- 
ture as  one  great  whole,  moved  and  animated  by 
internal  forces. 

For  this  purpose  he  turned  his  attention  to 
descriptive  botany,  traversing  distant  lands  and 
mountain  ranges  to  ascertain  with  certainty  the 
geographical  distribution  of  plants.  He  investi- 
gated the  laws  regulating  the  differences  of  tem- 
perature and  climate,  and  the  changes  of  the 
atmosphere.  He  studied  the  formation  of  the 
earth's  crust,  explored  the  deepest  mines,  ascended 
the  highest  mountains,  and  wandered  through  the 
craters  of   extinct  volcanoes. 

He.  became  thoroughly  acquainted  with  chem- 
istry, with  astronomy,  with  terrestrial  magnetism ; 
and  as  the  investigation  of  one  subject  leads  to 
all  others,  for  the  reason  that  there  is  a  mutual 
dependence  and  a  necessary  connection   between 


HUMBOLDT.  97 

all  facts,  so  Humboldt  became  acquainted  with 
all  the  known  sciences. 

His  fame  does  not  depend  so  much  upon  his 
discoveries  (although  he  discovered  enough  to 
make  hundreds  of  reputations)  as  upon  his  vast 
and  splendid  generalizations. 

He  was  to  science  what  Shakespeare  was  to 
the  drama. 

He  found,  so  to  speak,  the  world  full  of  un- 
connected facts  —  all  portions  of  a  vast  system 
—  parts  of  a  great  machine;  he  discovered  the 
connection  that  each  bears  to  all ;  put  them  to- 
gether, and  demonstrated  beyond  all  contradic- 
tion that  the  earth  is  governed  by  law. 

He  knew  that  to  discover  the  connection  of 
phenomena  is  the  primary  aim  of  all  natural 
investigation.     He  was  infinitely  practical. 

Origin  and  destiny  were  questions  with  which 
he  had  nothing  to  do.  • 

His  surroundings  made  him  what  he  was. 

In  accordance  with  a  law  not  fully  compre- 
hended, he  was  a  production  of   his  time. 

Great  men  do  not  live  alone;  they  are  sur- 
rounded by  the  great ;  they  are  the  instruments 
used  to  accomplish  the  tendencies  of  their  gene- 
ration ;  they  fulfill  the  prophecies  of  their  age. 


HUMBOLDT. 


Nearly  all  of  the  scientific  men  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  had  the  same  idea  entertained  by 
Humboldt,  but  most  of  them  in  a  dim  and  con- 
fused way.  There  was,  however,  a  general  belief 
among  the  intelligent  that  the  world  is  governed 
by  law,  and  that  there  really  exists  a  connection 
between  all  facts,  or  that  all  facts  are  swiftly  the 
different  aspects  of  a  general  fact,  and  that  the 
task  of  science  is  to  discover  this  connection ; 
to  comprehend  this  general  fact  or  to  announce 
the  laws  of  things. 

Germany  was  full  of  thought,  and  her  uni- 
versities swarmed  with  philosophers  and  grand 
thinkers  in  every  department  of   knowledge. 

Humboldt  was  the  friend  and  companion  of 
the  greatest  poets,  historians,  philologists,  artists, 
statesmen,  critics,  and  logicians  of  his  time. 

He  was  the  companion  of  Schiller,  who  be- 
lieved that  man  would  be  regenerated  through 
the  influence  of  the  Beautiful ;  of  Goethe,  the 
grand  patriarch  of  German  literature ;  of  Wei- 
land,  who  has  been  called  the  Voltaire  of  Ger- 
many ;  of  Herder,  who  wrote  the  outlines  of  a 
philosophical  history  of  man ;  of  Kotzebue,  who 
lived  in  the  world  of  romance ;  of  Schleiermacher, 


HUMBOLDT.  99 


the  pantheist ;  of  Schlegel,  who  gave  to  his  coun- 
trymen the  enchanted  realm  of  Shakespeare ;  of 
the  sublime  Kant,  author  of  the  first  work  pub- 
lished in  Germany  on  Pure  Reason ;  of  Fichte, 
the  infinite  idealist ;  of  Schopenhauer,  the  Euro- 
pean Buddhist  who  followed  the  great  Gautama 
to  the  painless  and  dreamless  Nirwana,  and  of 
hundreds  of  others,  whose  names  are  familiar  to 
and  honored  by  the  scientific  world. 

The  German  mind  had  been  grandly  roused 
from  the  long  lethargy  of  the  dark  ages  of  igno- 
rance, fear,  and  faith.  Guided  by  the  holy  light 
of  reason,  every  department  of  knowledge  was 
investigated,  enriched  and  illustrated. 

Humboldt  breathed  the  atmosphere  of  inves- 
tigation ;  old  ideas  were  abandoned ;  old  creeds, 
hallowed  by  centuries,  were  thrown  aside ; 
thought  became  courageous ;  the  athlete,  Rea- 
son, challenged  to  mortal  combat  the  monsters  of 
superstition. 

No  wonder  that  under  these  influences  Hum- 
boldt formed  the  great  purpose  of  presenting  to 
the  world  a  picture  of  Nature,  in  order  that  men 
might,  for  the  first  time,  behold  the  face  of  their 
Mother. 


100  HUMBOLDT. 

Europe  becoming  too  small  for  his  genius,  he 
visited  the  tropics  in  the  new  world,  where  in  the 
most  circumscribed  limits  he  could  find  the  great- 
est number  of  plants,  of  animals,  and  the  great- 
est diversity  of  climate,  that  he  might  ascertain 
the  laws  governing  the  production  and  distribu- 
tion of  plants,  animals  and  men,  and  the  effects 
of  climate  upon  them  all.  He  sailed  along  the 
gigantic  Amazon  —  the  mysterious  Orinoco  — 
traversed  the  Pampas  —  climbed  the  Andes  until 
he  stood  upon  the  crags  of  Chimborazo,  more 
than  eighteen  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  and  climbed  on  until  blood  flowed  from 
his  eyes  and  lips.  For  nearly  five  years  he  pur- 
sued his  investigations  in  the  new  world,  accom- 
panied by  the  intrepid  Bonpland.  Nothing  es- 
caped his  attention.  He  was  the  best  intellectual 
orean  of  these  new  revelations  of  science.  He 
was  calm,  reflective  and  eloquent ;  filled  with  a 
sense  of  the  beautiful,  and  the  love  of  truth. 
His  collections  were  immense,  and  valuable  be- 
yond calculation  to  every  science.  He  endured 
innumerable  hardships,  braved  countless  dangers 
in  unknown  and  savage  lands,  and  exhausted  his 
fortune  for  the  advancement  of  true  learning. 


HUMBOLDT.  101 

Upon  his  return  to  Europe  he  was  hailed  as 
the  second  Columbus  ;  as  the  scientific  discoverer 
of  America ;  as  the  revealer  of  a  new  world ;  as 
the  great  demonstrator  of  the  sublime  truth,  that 
the  universe  is  governed  by  law. 

I  have  seen  a  picture  of  the  old  man,  sitting 
upon  a  mountain  side  —  above  him  the  eternal 
snow — below,  the  smiling  valley  of  the  tropics, 
filled  with  vine  and  palm;  his  chin  upon  his 
breast,  his  eyes  deep,  thoughtful  and  calm  —  his 
forehead  majestic — grander  than  the  mountain 
upon  which  he  sat  —  crowned  with  the  snow  of 
his  whitened  hair,  he  looked  the  intellectual  auto- 
crat of  this  world. 

Not  satisfied  with  his  discoveries  in  America, 
he  crossed  the  steppes  of  Asia,  the  wastes  of  Si- 
beria, the  great  Ural  range,  adding  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  mankind  at  every  step.  His  energy 
acknowledged  no  obstacle,  his  life  knew  no  Jeis' 
ure ;  every  day  was  filled  with  labor  and  with 
thought. 

He  was  one  of  the  apostles  of  science,  and 
he  served  his  divine  master  with  a  self-sacrificing 
zeal  that  knew  no  abatement ;  with  an  ardor 
that  constantly  increased,  and  with  a  devotion 
unwavering  and  constant  as  the  polar  star. 


102  HUMBOLDT. 


In  order  that  the  people  at  large  might  have 
the  benefit  of  his  numerous  discoveries,  and  his 
vast  knowledge,  he  delivered  at  Berlin  a  course 
of  lectures,  consisting  of  sixty-one  free  addresses, 
upon  the  following  subjects : 

Five,  upon  the  nature  and  limits  of  physical 
geography. 

Three,  were  devoted  to  a  history  of  science. 

Two,  to  inducements  to  a  study  of  natural 
science. 

Sixteen,  on  the  heavens. 

Five,  on  the  form,  density,  latent  heat,  and 
magnetic  power  of  the  earth,  and  to  the  polar 
light. 

Four,  were  on  the  nature  of  the  crust  of  the 
earth,  on  hot  springs  earthquakes,  and  volca- 
noes. 

Two,  on  mountains  and  the  type  of  their 
formation. 

Two,  on  the  form  of  the  earth's  surface,  on 
the  connection  of  continents,  and  the  elevation 
of  soil  over  ravines. 

Three,  on  the  sea  as  a  globular  fluid  sur- 
rounding the  earth. 


HUMBOLDT.  103 

Ten,  on  the  atmosphere  as  an  elastic  fluid 
surrounding  the  earth,  and  on  the  distribution  of 
heat. 

One,  on  the  geographic  distribution  of  organ- 
ized matter  in  general. 

Three,  on  the  geography  of  plants. 

Three,  on  the  geography  of  animals,  and 

Two,  on  the  races  of  men. 

These  lectures  are  what  is  known  as  the 
Cosmos,  and  present  a  scientific  picture  of  the 
world  —  of  infinite  diversity  in  unity  —  of  ceaseless 
motion  in  the  eternal  grasp  of  law. 

These  lectures  contain  the  result  of  his  inves- 
tigation, observation,  and  experience ;  they  furnish 
the  connection  between  phenomena ;  they  disclose 
some  of  the  changes  through  which  the  earth  has 
passed  in  the  countless  ages ;  the  history  of  vege- 
tation, animals  and  men,  the  effects  of  climate 
upon  individuals  and  nations,  the  relation  we 
sustain  to  other  worlds,  and  demonstrate  that 
all  phenomena,  whether  insignificant  or  grand, 
exist    in    accordance    with    inexorable    law. 

There  are  some  truths,  however,  that  we  never 
should  forget :  Superstition  has  always  been  the 
relentless  enemy  of  science ;  faith  has  been  a  hater 


104  HUMBOLDT. 


of  demonstration  ;  hypocrisy  has  been  sincere  only 
in  its  dread  of  truth,  and  all  religions  are  incon- 
sistent with  mental  freedom. 

Since  the  murder  of  Hypatia  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, when  the  polished  blade  of  Greek  philosophy 
was  broken  by  the  club  of  ignorant  Catholicism, 
until  to-day,  superstition  has  detested  every  effort 
of  reason. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  victory  that  the  church  achieved 
over  philosophy.  For  ages  science  was  utterly 
ignored  ;  thought  was  a  poor  slave  ;  an  ignorant 
priest  was  master  of  the  world  ;  faith  put  out  the 
eyes  of  the  soul ;  the  reason  was  a  trembling  cow- 
ard ;  the  imagination  was  set  on  fire  of  hell ;  every 
human  feeling  was  sought  to  be  suppressed ; 
love  was  considered  infinitely  sinful ;  pleasure 
was  the  road  to  eternal  fire,  and  God  was  sup- 
posed to  be  happy  only  when  his  children  were 
miserable.  The  world  was  governed  by  an  Al- 
mighty's whim ;  prayers  could  change  the  order 
of  things,  halt  the  grand  procession  of  nature, 
could  produce  rain,  avert  pestilence,  famine  and 
death  in  all  its  forms.  There  was  no  idea  of 
the   certain  •   all    depended    upon   divine   pleasure 


HUMBOLDT.  luo 


—  or  displeasure  rather ;  heaven  was  full  of  in- 
consistent malevolence,  and  earth  of  ignorance. 
Everything  was  done  to  appease  the  divine 
wrath  ;  every  public  calamity  was  caused  by  the 
sins  of  the  people  ;  by  a  failure  to  pay  tithes, 
or  for  having,  even  in  secret,  felt  a  disrespect 
for  a  priest.  To  the  poor  multitude,  the  earth 
was  a  kind  of  enchanted  forest,  full  of  demons 
ready  to  devour,  and  theological  serpents  lurk- 
ing with  infinite  power  to  fascinate  and  torture 
the  unhappy  and  impotent  soul.  Life  to  them 
was  a  dim  and  mysterious  labyrinth,  in  which 
they  wandered  weary,  and  lost,  guided  by 
priests  as  bewildered  as  themselves,  without 
knowing  that  at  every  step  the  Ariadne  of  rea- 
son offered  them  the  long  lost  clue. 

The  very  heavens  were  full  of  death ;  the 
lio-htning-  was  regarded  as  the  glittering;  ven- 
geance  of  God,  and  the  earth  was  thick  with 
snares  for  the  unwary  feet  of  man.  The  soul 
was  supposed  to  be  crowded  with  the  wild 
beasts  of  desire ;  the  heart  to  be  totally  cor- 
rupt, prompting  only  to  crime;  virtues  were 
regarded  as  deadly  sins  in  disguise ;  there  was 
a   continual    warfare    being    waged    between    the 


106  HUMBOLDT. 

Deity  and  the  Devil,  for  the  possession  of 
every  soul ;  the  latter  generally  being  consid- 
ered victorious.  The  flood,  the  tornado,  the 
volcano,  were  all  evidences  of  the  displeasure 
of  heaven,  and  the  sinfulness  of  man.  The 
blight  that  withered,  the  frost  that  blackened, 
the  earthquake  that  devoured,  were  the  mes- 
sengers   of  the    Creator. 

The  world  was  governed  by  Fear. 

Against  all  the  evils  of  nature,  there  was 
known  only  the  defense  of  prayer,  of  fasting,  of 
credulity,  and  devotion.  Man  in  his  helplessness 
endeavored  to  soften  the  heart  of  God.  The  faces 
of  the  multitude  were  blanched  with  fear,  and 
wet  with  tears ;  they  were  the  prey  of  hypo- 
crites, kings  and  priests. 

My  heart  bleeds  when  I  contemplate  the  suf- 
ferings endured  by  the  millions  now  dead ;  of 
those  who  lived  when  the  world  appeared  to 
be  insane ;  when  the  heavens  were  filled  with  an 
infinite  Horror  who  snatched  babes  with  dim- 
pled hands  and  rosy  cheeks  from  the  white 
breasts  of  mothers,  and  dashed  them  into  an 
abyss  of  eternal  flame. 

Slowly,  beautifully,  like  the  coming  of  the 
dawn,   came   the   grand  truth,   that   the    universe 


HUMBOLDT.  107 


is  governed  by  law ;  that  disease  fastens  itself 
upon  the  good  and  upon  the  bad ;  that  the  tor- 
nado cannot  be  stopped  by  counting  beads  ;  that 
the  rushing  lava  pauses  not  for  bended  knees, 
the  lightning  for  clasped  and  uplifted  hands,  nor 
the  cruel  waves  of  the  sea  for  prayer ;  that  pay- 
ing tithes  causes,  rather  than  prevents  famine; 
that  pleasure  is  not  sin ;  that  happiness  is  the 
only  good ;  that  demons  and  gods  exist  only  in 
the  imagination ;  that  faith  is  a  lullaby  sung  to 
put  the  soul  to  sleep ;  that  devotion  is  a  bribe 
that  fear  offers  to  supposed  power ;  that  offering 
rewards  in  another  world  for  obedience  in  this, 
is  simply  buying  a  soul  on  credit ;  that  knowl- 
edge consists  in  ascertaining  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  that  wisdom  is  the  science  of  happiness. 
Slowly,  grandly,  beautifully,  these  truths  are  dawn- 
ing upon  mankind. 

From  Copernicus  we  learned  that  this  earth 
is  only  a  grain  of  sand  on  the  infinite  shore  of 
the  universe  ;  that  everywhere  we  are  surrounded 
by  shining  worlds  vastly  greater  than  our  own, 
all  moving  and  existing  in  accordance  with  law. 
True,  the  earth  began  to  grow  small,  but  man 
began  to  grow  great. 


108  HUMBOLDT. 


The  moment  the  fact  was  established  that 
other  worlds  are  governed  by  law,  it  was  only 
natural  to  conclude  that  our  little  world  was  also 
under  its  dominion.  The  old  theological  method 
of  accounting  for  physical  phenomena  by  the 
pleasure  and  displeasure  of  the  Deity  was,  by 
the  intellectual,  abandoned.  They  found  that 
disease,  death,  life,  thought,  heat,  cold,  the  sea- 
sons, the  winds,  the  dreams  of  man,  the  instinct 
of  animals, — in  short,  that  all  physical  and  mental 
phenomena  are  governed  by  law,  absolute,  eter- 
nal and  inexorable. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  by  the  term  Law 
is  meant  the  same  invariable  relations  of  suc- 
cession and  resemblance  predicated  of  all  facts 
springing  from  like  conditions.  Law  is  a  fact  — 
not  a  cause.  It  is  a  fact,  that  like  conditions 
produce  like  results :  this  fact  is  Law.  When 
we  say  that  the  universe  is  governed  by  law,  we 
mean  that  this  fact,  called  law,  is  incapable  of 
change ;  that  it  is,  has  been,  and  forever  will  be, 
the  same  inexorable,  immutable  Fact,  insepara- 
ble from  all  phenomena.  Law,  in  this  sense,  was 
not  enacted  or  made.  It  could  not  have  been 
otherwise  than  as  it  is.  That  which  necessarily 
exists  has  no  creator. 


HUMBOLDT.  109 


Only  a  few  years  ago  this  earth  was  consid- 
ered the  real  center  of  the  universe ;  all  the 
stars  were  supposed  to  revolve  around  this  insig- 
nificant atom.  The  German  mind,  more  than 
any  other,  has  done  away  with  this  piece  of  ego- 
tism. Purbach  and  Mullerus,  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, contributed  most  to  the  advancement  of 
astronomy  in  their  day.  To  the  latter,  the  world 
is  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  decimal  frac- 
tions, which  completed  our  arithmetical  notation, 
and  formed  the  second  of  the  three  steps  by 
which,  in  modern  times,  the  science  of  numbers 
has  been  so  greatly  improved;  and  yet,  both  of 
these  men  believed  in  the  most  childish  absurdi- 
ties, at  least  in  enough  of  them,  to  die  without 
their  orthodoxy  having  ever  been  suspected. 

Next  came  the  great  Copernicus,  and  he 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  heroic  thinkers  of 
his  time,  who  had  the  courage  and  the  mental 
strength  to  break  the  chains  of  prejudice,  custom, 
and  authority,  and  to  establish  truth  on  the  basis 
of  experience,  observation  and  reason.  He  re- 
moved the  earth,  so  to  speak,  from  the  centre 
of  the  universe,  and  ascribed  to  it  a  two-fold 
motion,  and  demonstrated  the  true  position 
which  it  occupies  in  the  solar  system. 


110  HUMBOLDT. 


At  his  bidding  the  earth  began  to  revolve. 
At  the  command  of  his  genius  it  commenced  its 
grand  flight  mid  the  eternal  constellations  round 
the  sun. 

For  fifty  years  his  discoveries  were  disre- 
garded. All  at  once,  by  the  exertions  of  Galileo, 
they  were  kindled  into  so  grand  a  conflagration 
as  to  consume  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  to 
alarm  the  hierarchy  of  Rome,  and  to  threaten 
the  existence  of  every  opinion  not  founded  uoon 
experience,  observation,  and  reason. 

The  earth  was  no  longer  considered  a  uni- 
verse, governed  by  the  caprices  of  some  revenger 
ful  Deity,  who  had  made  the  stars  out  of  what 
he  had  left  after  completing  the  world,  and  had 
stuck  them  in  the  sky  simply  to  adorn  the  night. 

I  have  said  this  much  concerning  astronomy 
because  it  was  the  first  splendid  step  forward ! 
The  first  sublime  blow  that  shattered  the  lance 
and  shivered  the  shield  of  superstition  ;  the  first 
real  help  that  man  received  from  heaven  ;  because 
it  was  the  first  great  lever  placed  beneath  the 
altar  of  a  false  religion ;  the  first  revelation  of 
the  infinite  to  man  ;  the  first  authoritative  declar- 
ation, that  the  universe  is  governed  by  law ;  the 


HUMBOLDT.  Ill 


first  science  that  gave  the  lie  direct  to  the  cos- 
mogony of  barbarism,  and  because  it  is  the  sub- 
limest  victory  that  the  reason  has  achieved. 

In  speaking  of  astronomy,  I  have  confined 
myself  to  the  discoveries  made  since  the  revival 
of  learning.  Long  ago,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges,  ages  before  Copernicus  lived,  Aryabhatta 
taught  that  the  earth  is  a  sphere,  and  revolves 
on  its  own  axis.  This,  however,  does  not  de- 
tract from  the  glory  of  the  great  German.  The 
discovery  of  the  Hindu  had  been  lost  in  the 
midnight  of  Europe  —  in  the  age  of  faith,  and 
Copernicus  was  as  much  a  discoverer  as  though 
Aryabhatta  had  never  lived. 

In  this  short  address  there  is  no  time  to 
speak  of  other  sciences,  and  to  point  out  the  par- 
ticular evidence  furnished  by  each,  to  establish 
the  dominion  of  law,  nor  to  more  than  mention 
the  name  of  Descartes,  the  first  who  undertook 
to  give  an  explanation  of  the  celestial  motions, 
or  wTho  formed  the  vast  and  philosophic  concep- 
tion of  reducing  all  the  phenomena  of  the  uni- 
verse to  the  same  law ;  of  Montaigne,  one  of  the 
heroes  of  common  sense  ;  of  Galvani,  whose  ex- 
periments   gave    the    telegraph  to  the  world ;   of 


112  HUMBOLDT. 


Voltaire,  who  contributed  more  than  any  other 
of  the  sons  of  men  to  the  destruction  of  religious 
intolerance ;  of  August  Comte,  whose  genius 
erected  to  itself  a  monument  that  still  touches 
the  stars ;  of  Guttenberg,  Watt,  Stephenson,  Ark- 
wright,  all  soldiers  of  science,  in  the  grand  army 
of   the  dead  kings. 

The  glory  of  science  is,  that  it  is  freeing  the 
soul — breaking  the  mental  manacles  —  getting 
the  brain  out  of  bondage  —  giving  courage  to 
thought  —  filling  the  world  with  mercy,  justice, 
and  joy. 

Science  found  agriculture  plowing  with  a  stick 

—  reaping  with  a  sickle  —  commerce  at  the  mercy 
of  the  treacherous  waves  and  the  inconstant 
winds  —  a  world  without  books  —  without  schools 

—  man  denying  the  authority  of  reason,  em- 
ploying his  ingenuity  in  the  manufacture  of  in- 
struments of  torture,  in  building  inquisitions  and 
cathedrals.  It  found  the  land  filled  with  mali- 
cious monks  —  with  persecuting  Protestants,  and 
the  burners  of  men.  It  found  a  world  full  of 
fear ;  ignorance  upon  its  knees ;  credulity  the 
greatest  virtue ;  women  treated  like  beasts  of 
burden;    cruelty   the    only  means  of   reformation. 


HUMBOLDT.  113 


It  found  the  world  at  the  mercy  of  disease  and 
famine ;  men  trying  to  read  their  fates  in  the 
stars,  and  to  tell  their  fortunes  by  signs  and 
wonders;  generals  thinking  to  conquer  their  ene- 
mies by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  or  by  tell- 
ing a  rosary.  It  found  all  history  full  of  petty 
and  ridiculous  falsehood,  and  the  Almighty  was 
supposed  to  spend  most  of  his  time  turning  sticks 
into  snakes,  drowning  boys  for  swimming  on 
Sunday,  and  killing  little  children  for  the  purpose 
of  converting  their  parents.  It  found  the  earth 
filled  with  slaves  and  tyrants,  the  people  in  all 
countries  downtrodden,  half  naked,  half  starved, 
without  hope,  and  without  reason  in  the  world. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  man  when  the 
morning  of  science  dawned  upon  his  brain,  and 
before  he  had  heard  the  sublime  declaration  that 
the  universe  is  governed  by  law. 

For  the  change  that  has  taken  place  we  are 
indebted  solely  to  science  —  the  only  lever  capa- 
ble of  raising  mankind.  Abject  faith  is  barba- 
rism ;  reason  is  civilization.  To  obey  is  slavish ; 
to  act  from  a  sense  of  obligation  perceived  by 
the  reason,  is  noble.  Ignorance  worships  mys- 
tery;  Reason  explains  it:  the  one  grovels,  the 
other  soars. 


114  HUMBOLDT. 

No  wonder  that  fable  is  the  enemy  of  knowl- 
edge. A  man  with  a  false  diamond  shuns  the 
society  of  lapidaries,  and  it  is  upon  this  principle 
that  superstition  abhors  science. 

In  all  ages  the  people  have  honored  those 
who  dishonored  them.  They  have  worshiped 
their  destroyers  ;  they  have  canonized  the  most 
gigantic  liars,  and  buried  the  great  thieves  in 
marble  and  gold.  Under  the  loftiest  monuments 
sleeps  the  dust  of  murder. 

Imposture  has  always  worn  a  crown. 

The  world  is  beginning  to  change  because 
the  people  are  beginning  to  think.  To  think  is 
to  advance.  Everywhere  the  great  minds  are 
investigating  the  creeds  and  the  superstitions  of 
men  —  the  phenomena  of  nature,  and  the  laws 
of  things.  At  the  head  of  this  great  army  of 
investigators  stood  Humboldt  —  the  serene  lead- 
er of  an  intellectual  host — a  king  by  the  suf- 
frage of  Science,  and  the  divine  right  of  Genius 

And  to-day  we  are  not  honoring  some  butch- 
er called  a  soldier — some  wily  politician  called 
a  statesman  —  some  robber  called  a  king,  nor 
some  malicious  metaphysician  called  a  saint. 
We    are    honoring   the    grand    Humboldt,   whose 


HUMBOLDT.  115 

victories  were  all  achieved  in  the  arena  of 
thought ;  who  destroyed  prejudice,  ignorance  and 
error  —  not  men;  who  shed  light  —  not  blood, 
and  who  contributed  to  the  knowledge,  the 
wealth,  and  the  happiness  of  all  mankind. 

His  life  was  pure,  his  aims  lofty,  his  learning 
varied  and    profound,  and    his  achievements  vast. 

We  honor  him  because  he  has  ennobled  our 
race,  because  he  has  contributed  as  much  as  any 
man  living  or  dead  to  the  real  prosperity  of  the 
world.  We  honor  him  because  he  honored  us  — 
because  he  labored  for  others  —  because  he  was 
the  most  learned  man  of  the  most  learned  na- 
tion—  because  he  left  a  legacy  of  glory  to  every 
human  being.  For  these  reasons  he  is  honored 
throughout  the  world.  Millions  are  doing  hom- 
age to  his  genius  at  this  moment,  and  millions 
are  pronouncing  his  name  with  reverence  and 
recounting  what  he  accomplished. 

We  associate  the  name  of  Humboldt  with 
oceans,  continents,  mountains,  and  volcanoes  — 
with  the  great  palms  —  the  wide  deserts  —  the 
snow-lipped  craters  of  the  Andes — with  prime- 
val forests  and  European  capitals  —  with  wilder- 
nesses    and     universities  —  with      savages     and 


116  HUMBOLDT, 


savans  —  with  the  lonely  rivers  of  unpeopled 
wastes  —  with  peaks  and  pampas,  and  steppes, 
and  cliffs  and  crags  —  with  the  progress  of  the 
world  —  with  every  science  known  to  man,  and 
with  every  star  glittering  in  the  immensity  of 
space. 

Humboldt  adopted  none  of  the  soul-shrink- 
ing creeds  of  his  day  ;  wasted  none  of  his  time 
in  the  stupidities,  inanities  and  contradictions  of 
theological  metaphysics  ;  he  did  not  endeavor  to 
harmonize  the  astronomy  and  geology  of  a  bar- 
barous people  with  the  science  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Never,  for  one  moment,  did  he  aban- 
don the  sublime  standard  of  truth  ;  he  investi- 
gated, he  studied,  he  thought,  he  separated  the 
gold  from  the  dross  in  the  crucible  of  his  grand 
brain.  He  was  never  found  on  his  knees  before 
the  altar  of  superstition.  He  stood  erect  by  the 
grand  tranquil  column  of  Reason.  He  was  an 
admirer,  a  lover,  an  adorer  of  Nature,  and  at  the 
age  of  ninety,  bowed  by  the  weight  of  nearly  a 
century,  covered  with  the  insignia  of  honor, 
loved  by  a  nation,  respected  by  a  world,  with 
kings  for  his  servants,  he  laid  his  weary  head 
upon    her   bosom  —  upon    the  bosom  of  the  uni- 


HUMBOLDT.  117 


versal  Mother  —  and  with  her  loving  arms 
around  him,  sank  into  that  slumber  called  Death. 

History  added  another  name  to  the  starry 
scroll  of  the  immortals. 

The  world  is  his  monument ;  upon  the  eter- 
nal granite  of  her  hills  he  inscribed  his  name, 
and  there  upon  everlasting  stone  his  genius 
wrote  this,  the  sublimest  of  truths : 

"The  Universe  is  Governed  by  Law!" 


THOMAS    PAINE. 


THOMAS  PAINE. 


With  His  Name  Left  Out,  the  History  of  Liberty 
Cannot  be  Written. 

TO  speak  the  praises  of  the  brave  and  thought- 
ful dead,  is  to  me  a  labor  of  gratitude 
and  love. 

Through  all  the  centuries  gone,  the  mind  of 
man  has  been  beleaguered  by  the  mailed  hosts 
of  superstition.  Slowly  and  painfully  has  ad- 
vanced the  army  of  deliverance.  Hated  by  those 
they  wished  to  rescue,  despised  by  those  they 
were  dying  to  save,  these  grand  soldiers,  these 
immortal  deliverers,  have  fought  without  thanks, 
labored  without  applause,  suffered  without  pity, 
and  they  have  died  execrated  and  abhorred. 
For  the  good  of  mankind  they  accepted  isolation, 
poverty,  and  calumny.  They  gave  up  all,  sacri- 
ficed all,  lost  all  but  truth  and  self-respect. 

One  of  the  bravest  soldiers  in  this  army  was 


122  THOMAS  PAINE. 

Thomas  Paine ;  and  for  one,  I  feel  indebted  to 
him  for  the  liberty  we  are  enjoying  this  day. 
Born  among  the  poor,  where  children  are  bur- 
dens ;  in  a  country  where  real  liberty  was  un- 
known ;  where  the  privileges  of  class  were  guard- 
ed with  infinite  jealousy,  and  the  rights  of  the 
individual  trampled  beneath  the  feet  of  priests 
and  nobles  ;  where  to  advocate  justice  was  trea- 
son;  where  intellectual  freedom  was  Infidelity, 
it  is  wonderful  that  the  idea  of  true  liberty  ever 
entered  his  brain. 

Poverty  was  his  mother — Necessity  his  mas- 
ter. 

He  had  more  brains  than  books  ;  more  sense 
than  education ;  more  courage  than  politeness ; 
more  strength  than  polish.  He  had  no  venera- 
tion for  old  mistakes  —  no  admiration  for  ancient 
lies.  He  loved  the  truth  for  the  truth  s  sake,  and 
for  mans  sake.  He  saw  oppression  on  every 
hand ;  injustice  everywhere ;  hypocrisy  at  the 
altar,  venality  on  the  bench,  tyranny  on  the 
throne ;  and  with  a  splendid  courage  he  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  weak  against  the  strong  —  of 
the  enslaved  many  against  the  titled  few. 

In  England  he  was  nothing.     He  belonged  to 


THOMAS  PAINE.  123 

the  lower  classes.  There  was  no  avenue  open  for 
him.  The  people  hugged  their  chains,  and  the 
whole  power  of  the  government  was  ready  to 
crush  any  man  who  endeavored  to  strike  a  blow 
for  the  right. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  Thomas  Paine  left 
England  for  America,  with  the  high  hope  of 
being  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of  a  free 
government.  In  his  own  country  he  could  ac- 
complish nothing.  Those  two  vultures  —  Church 
and  State  —  were  ready  to  tear  in  pieces  and 
devour  the  heart  of  any  one  who  might  deny 
their  divine  right  to  enslave  the  world. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  this  country,  he  found 
himself  possessed  of  a  letter  of  introduction, 
signed  by  another  Infidel,  the  illustrious  Franklin. 
This,  and  his  native  genius,  constituted  his  entire 
capital ;  and  he  needed  no  more.  He  found  the 
colonies  clamoring  for  justice ;  whining  about 
their  grievances ;  upon  their  knees  at  the  foot 
of  the  throne,  imploring  that  mixture  of  idiocy 
and  insanity,  George  the  III,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  for  a  restoration  of  their  ancient  privileges. 
They  were  not  endeavoring  to  become  free  men, 
but  were  trying  to  soften  the  heart  of  their  mas- 


124  THOMAS  PAINE. 

ter.  They  were  perfectly  willing  to  make  brick 
if  Pharaoh  would  furnish  the  straw.  The  colo- 
nists wished  for,  hoped  for,  and  prayed  for  recon- 
ciliation    They  did  not  dream  of  independence. 

Paine  gave  to  the  world  his  "  Common  Sense." 
It  was  the  first  argument  for  separation,  the  first 
assault  upon  the  British  form  of  government,  the 
first  blow  for  a  republic,  and  it  aroused  our  fathers 
like  a  trumpet's  blast. 

He  was  the  first  to  perceive  the  destiny  of 
the  New  World. 

No  other  pamphlet  ever  accomplished  such 
wonderful  results.  It  was  filled  with  argument, 
reason,  persuasion,  and  unanswerable  logic.  It 
opened  a  new  world.  It  filled  the  present  with 
hope  and  the  future  with  honor.  Everywhere  the 
people  responded,  and  in  a  few  months  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  declared  the  colonies  free  and 
independent  States. 

A  new  nation  was  born. 

It  is  simple  justice  to  say  that  Paine  did  more 
to  cause  the  Declaration  of  Independence  than 
any  other  man.  Neither  should  it  be  forgotten 
that  his  attacks  upon  Great  Britain  were  also 
attacks  upon   monarchy ;  and  while   he  convinced 


THOMAS  PAINE.  125 

the  people  that  the  colonies  ought  to  separate 
from  the  mother  country,  he  also  proved  to  them 
that  a  free  government  is  the  best  that  can  be 
instituted  among  men. 

In  my  judgment,  Thomas  Paine  was  the 
best  political  writer  that  ever  lived.  "  What  he 
wrote  was  pure  nature,  and  his  soul  and  his  pen 
ever  went  together."  Ceremony,  pageantry,  and 
all  the  paraphernalia  of  power,  had  no  effect 
upon  him.  He  examined  into  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  things.  He  was  perfectly  radical 
in  his  mode  of  thought.  Nothing  short  of  the 
bed-rock  satisfied  him.  His  enthusiasm  for 
what  he  believed  to  be  right  knew  no  bounds. 
During  all  the  dark  scenes  of  the  Revolution, 
never  for  one  moment  did  he  despair.  Year 
after  year  his  brave  words  were  ringing  through 
the  land,  and  by  the  bivouac  fires  the  weary 
soldiers  read  the  inspiring  words  of  "  Common 
Sense,"  filled  with  ideas  sharper  than  their 
swords,  and  consecrated  themselves  anew  to  the 
cause  of  Freedom. 

Paine  was  not  content  with  having  aroused 
the  spirit  of  independence,  but  he  gave  every 
energy  of  his  soul  to  keep  that  spirit  alive.     He 


126  THOMAS  PAINE. 

was  with  the  army.  He  shared  its  defeats,  its 
dangers,  and  its  glory.  When  the  situation 
became  desperate,  when  gloom  settled  upon  all, 
he  gave  them  the  "  Crisis."  It  was  a  cloud  by 
day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  leading  the 
way  to  freedom,  honor,  and  glory.  He  shouted 
to  them,  "  These  are  the  times  that  try  mens 
souls.  The  summer  soldier,  and  the  sunshine 
patriot,  will,  in  this  crisis,  shrink  from  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country  ;  but  he  that  stands  it  now 
deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of  man  and  wo- 
man." 

To  those  who  wished  to  put  the  war  off  to 
some  future  day,  with  a  lofty  and  touching  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice  he  said :  "  Every  generous  pa- 
rent should  say,  '  If  there  must  be  war  let  it 
be  in  my  day,  that  my  child  may  have  peace.' " 
To  the  cry  that  Americans  were  rebels,  he  re- 
plied :  "  He  that  rebels  against  reason  is  a  real 
rebel ;  but  he  that  in  defense  of  reason  rebels 
against  tyranny,  has  a  better  title  to  '  Defender 
of  the  Faith '  than  George  the  Third." 

Some  said  it  was  not  to  the  interest  of  the 
colonies  to  be  free.  Paine  answered  this  by 
saying,  "  To  know  whether  it  be  the  interest  of 


THOMAS  PAINE.  127 


the  continent  to  be  independent,  we  need  ask 
only  this  simple,  easy  question :  '  Is  it  the  in- 
terest of  a  man  to  be  a  boy  all  his  life?'"  He 
found  many  who  would  listen  to  nothing,  and 
to  them  he  said,  "  That  to  argue  with  a  man 
who  has  renounced  his  reason  is  like  giving 
medicine  to  the  dead."  This  sentiment  ought 
to   adorn   the  walls   of   every   orthodox  church. 

There  is  a  world  of  political  wisdom  in  this : 
"  England  lost  her  liberty  in  a  long  chain  of 
right  reasoning  from  wrong  principles " ;  and 
there  is  real  discrimination  in  saying,  "  The 
Greeks  and  Romans  were  strongly  possessed  of 
the  spirit  of  liberty,  but  not  the  principles,  for  at 
the  time  that  they  were  determined  not  to  be 
slaves  themselves,  they  employed  their  power  to 
enslave  the  rest  of  mankind." 

In  his  letter  to  the  British  people,  in  which 
he  tried  to  convince  them  that  war  was  not  to 
their  interest,  occurs  the  following  passage  brim- 
ful of  common  sense :  "  War  never  can  be  the 
interest  of  a  trading  nation  any  more  than  quar- 
reling can  be  profitable  to  a  man  in  business. 
But  to  make  war  with  those  who  trade  with  us 
is  like  setting  a  bull-dog  upon  a  customer  at  the 
shop-door." 


128  THOMAS  PAINE. 

The  writings  of  Paine  fairly,  glitter  with  sim- 
ple, compact,  logical  statements,  that  carry  con- 
viction to  the  dullest  and  most  prejudiced.  He 
had  the  happiest  possible  way  of  putting  the 
case ;  in  asking  questions  in  such  a  way  that 
they  answer  themselves,  and  in  stating  his 
premises  so  clearly  that  the  deduction  could 
not   be   avoided. 

Day  and  night  he  labored  for  America ; 
month  after  month,  year  after  year,  he  gave 
himself  to  the  Great  Cause,  until  there  was  "  a 
government  of  the  people  and  for  the  people," 
and  until  the  banner  of  the  stars  floated  over 
a  continent  redeemed,  and  consecrated  to  the 
happiness  of  mankind. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  no  one  stood 
higher  in  America  than  Thomas  Paine.  The 
best,  the  wisest,  the  most  patriotic,  were  his 
friends  and  admirers  ;  and  had  he  been  thinking 
only  of  his  own  good  he  might  have  rested 
from  his  toils  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  in  comfort  and  in  ease.  He  could  have  been 
what  the  world  is  pleased  to  call  "  respectable." 
He  could  have  died  surrounded  by  clergymen, 
warriors  and  statesmen.     At  his  death  there  would 


THOMAS  PAINE.  120 

have  been  an  imposing  funeral,  miles  of  carriages,, 
civic  societies,  salvos  of  artillery,  a  nation  in 
mourning,  and,  above  all,  a  splendid  monument 
covered  with  lies. 

He  chose  rather  to  benefit  mankind. 

At  that  time  the  seeds  sown  by  the  great 
Infidels  were  beginning  to  bear  fruit  in  France. 
The  people  were  beginning  to  think. 

The  Eighteenth  Century  was  crowning  its 
gray  hairs  with  the  wreath  of  Progress. 

On  every  hand  Science  was  bearing  testimony 
against  the  Church.  Voltaire  had  filled  Europe 
with  light  ;  D'Holbach  was  giving  to  the  elite  of 
Paris  the  principles  contained  in  his  "System  of 
Nature."  The  Encyclopedists  had  attacked  su- 
perstition with  information  for  the  masses.  The 
foundation  of  things  began  to  be  examined.  A 
few  had  the  courage  to  keep  their  shoes  on  and 
let  the  bush  burn.  Miracles  began  to  get  scarce. 
Everywhere  the  people  began  to  inquire.  Amer- 
ica had  set  an  example  to  the  world.  The  word 
Liberty  was  in  the  mouths  of  men,  and  they 
began  to  wipe  the  dust  from  their  knees. 

The  dawn  of  a  new  day  had  appeared. 

Thomas  Paine  went  to  France.     Into  the  new 


130  THOMAS  PAINE. 

movement  he  threw  all  his  energies.  His  fame 
had  gone  before  him,  and  he  was  welcomed  as  a 
friend  of  the  human  race,  and  as  a  champion  of 
free  government. 

He  had  never  relinquished  his  intention  of 
pointing  out  to  his  countrymen  the  defects,  ab- 
surdities and  abuses  of  the  English  government. 
For  this  purpose  he  composed  and  published  his 
greatest  political  work,  "  The  Rights  of  Man." 
This  work  should  be  read  by  every  man  and 
woman.  It  is  concise,  accurate,  natural,  convinc- 
ing, and  unanswerable.  It  shows  great  thought ; 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  various  forms  of 
government ;  deep  insight  into,  the  very  springs 
of  human  action,  and  a  courage  that  compels 
respect  and  admiration.  The  most  difficult  polit- 
ical problems  are  solved  in  a  few  sentences.  The 
venerable  arguments  in  favor  of  wrong  are  re- 
futed with  a  question  —  answered  with  a  word. 
For  forcible  illustration,  apt  comparison,  accuracy 
and  clearness  of  statement,  and  absolute  thor- 
oughness, it  has  never  been  excelled. 

The  fears  of  the  administration  were  aroused, 
and  Paine  was  prosecuted  for  libel  and  found 
guilty  ;  and  yet  there  is  not   a   sentiment    in    the 


THOMAS  PAINE.  131 

entire  work  that  will  not  challenge  the  admira- 
tion of  every  civilized  man.  It  is  a  magazine  of 
political  wisdom,  an  arsenal  of  ideas,  and  an 
honor,  not  only  to  Thomas  Paine,  but  to  human 
nature  itself.  It  could  have  been  written  only 
by  the  man  who  had  the  generosity,  the  exalted 
patriotism,  the  goodness  to  say,  "  The  world  is 
my  country,  and  to  do  good   my  religion." 

There  is  in  all  the  utterances  of  the  world  no 
grander,  no  sublimer  sentiment.  There  is  no 
creed  that  can  be  compared  with  it  for  a  mo- 
ment. It  should  be  wrought  in  gold,  adorned 
with  jewels,  and  impressed  upon  every  human 
heart :  "  The  world  is  my  country,  and  to  do 
good  my  religion." 

In  1792,  Paine  was  elected  by  the  department 
of  Calais  as  their  representative  in  the  National 
Assembly.  So  great  was  his  popularity  in  France 
that  he  was  selected  about  the  same  time  by  the 
people  of   no  less  than  four  departments. 

Upon  taking  his  place  in  the  Assembly  he 
was  appointed  as  one  of  a  committee  to  draft  a 
constitution  for  France.  Had  the  French  people 
taken  the  advice  of  Thomas  Paine  there  would 
have  been   no  "  reign  of   terror."     The  streets  of 


132  THOMAS  PAINE. 


Paris  would  not  have  been  filled  with  blood. 
The  Revolution  would  have  been  the  grandest 
success  of  the  world.  The  truth  is  that  Paine 
was  too  conservative  to  suit  the  leaders  of  the 
French  Revolution.  They,  to  a  great  extent,  were 
carried  away  by  hatred,  and  a  desire  to  destroy. 
They  had  suffered  so  long,  they  had  borne  so 
much,  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  be  mod- 
erate in  the  hour  of   victory. 

Besides  all  this,  the  French  people  had  been 
so  robbed  by  the  government,  so  degraded  by 
the  Church,  that  they  were  not  fit  material  with 
which  to  construct  a  republic.  Many  of  the  lead- 
ers longed  to  establish  a  beneficent  and  just  gov- 
ernment, but  the  people  asked  for  revenge. 

Paine  was  filled  with  a  real  love  for  mankind. 
His  philanthropy  was  boundless.  He  wished  to 
destroy  monarchy  —  not  the  monarch.  He  voted 
for  the  destruction  of  tyranny,  and  against  the 
death  of  the  king.  He  wished  to  establish  a  gov- 
ernment on  a  new  basis;  one  that  would  forget 
the  past ;  one  that  would  give  privileges  to  none, 
and  protection  to  all. 

In  the  Assembly,  where  nearly  all  were  de- 
manding the   execution    of    the   king  —  where    to 


THOMAS  PAINE.  133 


differ  from  the  majority  was  to  be  suspected,  and, 
where  to  be  suspected  was  almost  certain  death 
Thomas  Paine  had  the  courage,  the  goodness 
and  the  justice  to  vote  against  death.  To  vote 
against  the  execution  of  the  king-  was  a  vote 
against  his  own  life.  This  was  the  sublimity  of 
devotion  to  principle.  For  this  he  was  arrested, 
imprisoned,  and  doomed  to  death. 

Search  the  records  of  the  world  and  you  will 
find  but  few  sublimer  acts  than  that  of  Thomas 
Paine  voting  against  the  king's  death.  He,  the 
hater  of  despotism,  the  abhorrer  of  monarchy, 
the  champion  of  the  rights  of  man,  the  repub- 
lican, accepting  death  to  save  the  life  of  a  de- 
posed tyrant  —  of  a  throneless  king.  This  was 
the  last  grand  act  of  his  political  life  —  the 
sublime  conclusion  of  his  political  career. 

All  his  life  he  had  been  the  disinterested 
friend  of  man.  He  had  labored  —  not  for  money, 
not  for  fame,  but  for  the  general  good.  He  had 
aspired  to  no  office ;  had  asked  no  recognition 
of  his  services,  but  had  ever  been  content  to 
labor  as  a  common  soldier  in  the  army  of  Prog- 
ress. Confining  his  efforts  to  no  country,  looking 
upon  the  world  as  his  field  of   action,  filled  with 


134  THOMAS  PAINE. 

a  genuine  love  for  the  right,  he  found  himself 
imprisoned  by  the  very  people  he  had  striven 
to  save. 

Had   his  enemies   succeeded  in    brinmncr    him 

o       o 

to  the  block,  he  would  have  escaped  the  calum- 
nies and  the  hatred  of  the  Christian  world.  In 
this  country,  at  least,  he  would  have  ranked  with 
the  proudest  names.  On  the  anniversary  of  the 
Declaration  his  name  would  have  been  upon  the 
lips  of  all  the  orators,  and  his  memory  in  the 
hearts  of  all  the  people. 

Thomas  Paine  had  not  finished  his  career. 

He  had  spent  his  life  thus  far  in  destroying 
the  power  of  kings,  and  now  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  priests.  He  knew  that  every  abuse 
had  been  embalmed  in  Scripture  —  that  every 
outrage  was  in  partnership  with  some  holy  text. 
He  knew  that  the  throne  skulked  behind  the 
altar,  and  both  behind  a  pretended  revelation 
from  God.  By  this  time  he  had  found  that  it 
was  of  little  use  to  free  the  body  and  leave  the 
mind  in  chains.  He  had  explored  the  founda- 
tions of  despotism,  and  had  found  them  infinitely 
rotten.  He  had  dug  under  the  throne,  and  it 
occurred  to  him  that  he  would  take  a  look  behind 
the  altar. 


THOMAS  PAINE.  135 


The  result  of  his  investigations  was  given  to 
the  world  in  the  "Age  of  Reason."  From  the 
moment  of  its  publication  he  became  infamous. 
He  was  calumniated  beyond  measure.  To  slan- 
der him  was  to  secure  the  thanks  of  the  Church. 
All  his  services  were  instantly  forgotten,  dispar- 
aged or  denied.  He  was  shunned  as  though  he 
had  been  a  pestilence.  Most  of  his  old  friends 
forsook  him.  He  was  regarded  as  a  moral  plague, 
and  at  the  bare  mention  of  his  name  the  bloody 
hands  of  the  Church  were  raised  in  horror.  He 
was  denounced  as  the  most  despicable  of  men. 

Not  content  with  following  him  to  his  grave, 
they  pursued  him  after  death  with  redoubled 
fury,  and  recounted  with  infinite  gusto  and  satis- 
faction the  supposed  horrors  of  his  death-bed ; 
gloried  in  the  fact  that  he  was  forlorn  and  friend- 
less, and  gloated  like  fiends  over  what  they  sup- 
posed to  be  the  agonizing  remorse  of  his  lonely 
death. 

It  is  wonderful  that  all  his  services  were  thus 
forgotten.  It  is  amazing  that  one  kind  word  did 
not  fall  from  some  pulpit ;  that  some  one  did  not 
accord  to  him,  at  least  —  honesty.  Strange,  that 
in    the    general    denunciation    some    one    did    not 


136  THOMAS  PAINE. 

remember  his  labor  for  liberty,  his  devotion  to 
principle,  his  zeal  for  the  rights  of  his  fellow-men. 
He  had.  by  brave  and  splendid  effort,  associated 
his  name  with  the  cause  of  Progress.  He  had 
made  it  impossible  to  write  the  history  of  political 
freedom  with  his  name  left  out.  He  was  one  of 
the  creators  of  light ;  one  of  the  heralds  of  the 
dawn.  He  hated  tyranny  in  the  name  of  kings, 
and  in  the  name  of  God,  with  every  drop  of  his 
noble  blood.  He  believed  in  liberty  and  justice, 
and  in  the  sacred  doctrine  of  human  equality. 
Under  these  divine  banners  he  fought  the  battle 
of  his  life.  In  both  worlds  he  offered  his  blood 
for    the    eood    of    man.      In    the    wilderness    of 

o 

America,  in  the  French  Assembly,  in  the  sombre 
cell  waiting  for  death,  he  was  the  same  unflinch- 
ing,  unwavering  friend  of  his  race  ;  the  same  un- 
daunted champion  of  universal  freedom.  And 
for  this  he  has  been  hated  ;  for  this  the  Church 
has  violated  even  his  grave. 

This  is  enough  to  make  one  believe  that 
nothing  is  more  natural  than  for  men  to  devour 
their  benefactors.  The  people  in  all  ages  have 
crucified  and  glorified.  Whoever  lifts  his  voice 
against  abuses,  whoever  arraigns  the  past  at  the 


THOMAS  PAINE.  137 

bar  of  the  present,  whoever  asks  the  king  to  show 
his  commission,  or  questions  the  authority  of  the 
priest,  will  be  denounced  as  the  enemy  of  man  and 
God.  In  all  ages  reason  has  been  regarded  as  the 
enemy  of  religion.  Nothing  has  been  considered 
so  pleasing  to  the  Deity  as  a  total  denial  of  the 
authority  of  your  own  mind.  Self-reliance  has 
been  thought  a  deadly  sin  ;  and  the  idea  of  living 
and  dying  without  the  aid  and  consolation  of 
superstition  has  always  horrified  the  Church.  By 
some  unaccountable  infatuation,  belief  has  been 
and  still  is  considered  of  immense  importance. 
All  religions  have  been  based  upon  the  idea  that 
God  will  forever  reward  the  true  believer,  and  eter- 
nally damn  the  man  who  doubts  or  denies.  Belief 
is  regarded  as  the  one  essential  thing.  To  practice 
justice,  to  love  mercy,  is  not  enough.  You  must 
believe  in  some  incomprehensible  creed.  You 
must  say,  "  Once  one  is  three,  and  three  times  one 
is  one."  The  man  who  practiced  every  virtue,  but 
failed  to  believe,  was  execrated.  Nothing  so  out- 
rages the  feelings  of  the  Church  as  a  moral  unbe- 
liever  —  nothing  so  horrible  as  a  charitable  Atheist. 
When  Paine  was  born,  the  world  was  religious, 
the  pulpit  was  the  real  throne,  and  the  churches 


138  THOMAS  PAINE. 

were  making  every  effort  to  crush  out  of  the  brain 
the  idea  that  it  had  the  right  to  think. 

The  splendid  saying  of  Lord  Bacon,  that  "  The 
inquiry  of  truth,  which  is  the  love-making  or  wooing 
of  it,  the  knowledge  of  truth,  which  is  the  presence 
of  it,  and  the  belief  of  truth,  which  is  the  enjoying 
of  it,  are  the  sovereign  good  of  human  nature,"  has 
been,  and  ever  will  be,  rejected  by  religionists. 
Intellectual  liberty,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  forever 
destroys  the  idea  that  belief  is  either  praise  or 
blame-worthy,  and  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  every 
creed  in  Christendom.  Paine  recognized  this 
truth.  He  also  saw  that  as  long  as  the  bible  was 
considered  inspired,  this  infamous  doctrine  of  the 
virtue  of  belief  would  be  believed  and  preached. 
He  examined  the  Scriptures  for  himself,  and  found 
them  filled  with  cruelty,  absurdity  and  immorality. 

He  again  made  up  his  mind  to  sacrifice  himself 
for  the  o-ood  of  his  fellow-men. 

o 

He  commenced  with  the  assertion,  "  That  any 
system  of  religion  that  has  anything  in  it  that 
shocks  the  mind  of  a  child  cannot  be  a  true 
system."  What  a  beautiful,  what  a  tender  senti- 
ment !  No  wonder  the  Church  be^an  to  hate  him. 
He  believed  in  one  God,  and  no  more.     After  this 


THOMAS  PAINE.  139 


life  he  hoped  for  happiness,  He  believed  that  true 
religion  consisted  in  doing  justice,  loving  mercy,  in 
endeavoring  to  make  our  fellow-creatures  happy, 
and  in  offering  to  God  the  fruit  of  the  heart.  He 
denied  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  This  was 
his  crime. 

He  contended  that  it  is  a  contradiction  in  terms 
to  call  anything  a  revelation  that  comes  to  us 
second-hand,  either  verbally  or  in  writing.  He 
asserted  that  revelation  is  necessarily  limited  to 
the  first  communication,  and  that  after  that  it  is 
only  an  account  of  something  which  another  per- 
son says  was  a  revelation  to  him.  We  have  only 
his  word  for  it,  as  it  was  never  made  to  us.  This 
argument  never  has  been  and  probably  never  will 
be  answered.  He  denied  the  divine  origin  of 
Christ,  and  showed  conclusively  that  the  pretended 
prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  had  no  reference 
to  him  whatever  ;  and  yet  he  believed  that  Christ 
was  a  virtuous  and  amiable  man  ;  that  the  morality 
he  taught  and  practiced  was  of  the  most  benevo- 
lent and  elevated  character,  and  that  it  had  not 
been  exceeded  by  any.  Upon  this  point  he  enter- 
tained the  same  sentiments  now  held  by  the 
Unitarians,  and  in  fact  by  all  the  most  enlightened 
Christians. 


140  THOMAS  PAINE. 

In  his  time  the  Church  believed  and  taught 
that  every  word  in  the  bible  was  absolutely  true. 
Since  his  day  it  has  been  proven  false  in  its  cos- 
mogony, false  in  its  astronomy,  false  in  its  chron- 
ology, false  in  its  history,  and  so  far  as  the  Old 
Testament  is  concerned,  false  in  almost  everything. 
There  are  but  few,  if  any,  scientific  men  who  appre- 
hend that  the  bible  is  literally  true.  Who  on  earth 
at  this  day  would  pretend  to  settle  any  scientific 
question  by  a  text  from  the  bible  ?  The  old  belief 
is  confined  to  the  ignorant  and  zealous.  The 
Church  itself  will  before  long  be  driven  to  occupy 
the  position  of  Thomas  Paine.  The  best  minds 
of  the  orthodox  world,  to-day,  are  endeavoring  to 
prove  the  existence  of  a  personal  Deity.  All  other 
questions  occupy  a  minor  place.  You  are  no  longer 
asked  to  swallow  the  bible  whole,  whale,  Jonah  and 
all ;  you  are  simply  required  to  believe  in  God,  and 
pay  your  pew-rent.  There  is  not  now  an  enlight- 
ened minister  in  the  world  who  will  seriously  con- 
tend that  Samson's  strength  was  in  his  hair,  or 
that  the  necromancers  of  Egypt  could  turn  water 
into  blood,  and  pieces  of  wood  into  serpents. 
These  follies  have  passed  away,  and  the  only 
reason  that  the  religious  world  can  now  have  for 


THOMAS  PAINE.  141 

disliking  Paine  is  that  they  have  been  forced  to 
adopt  so  many  of  his  opinions. 

Paine  thought  the  barbarities  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament  inconsistent  with  what  he  deemed  the  real 
character  of  God.  He  believed  that  murder,  mas- 
sacre and  indiscriminate  slaughter  had  never  been 
commanded  by  the  Deity.  He  regarded  much  of 
the  bible  as  childish,  unimportant  and  foolish, 
The  scientific  world  entertains  the  same  opinion, 
Paine  attacked  the  bible  precisely  in  the  same 
spirit  in  which  he  had  attacked  the  pretensions  of 
kings.  He  used  the  same  weapons.  All  the  pomp 
in  the  world  could  not  make  him  cower.  His 
reason  knew  no  "  Holy  of  Holies,"  except  the 
abode  of  Truth.  The  sciences  were  then  in  their 
infancy.  The  attention  of  the  really  learned  had 
not  been  directed  to  an  impartial  examination  of 
our  pretended  revelation.  It  was  accepted  by  most 
as  a  matter  of  course.  The  Church  was  all-power- 
ful, and  no  one,  unless  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  thought  for  a  moment  of 
disputing  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity. The  infamous  doctrine  that  salvation  depends 
upon  belief  —  upon  a  mere  intellectual  conviction 
—  was  then  believed  and  preached.     To  doubt  was 


11-3  THOMAS  PAINE. 


to  secure  the  damnation  of  your  soul.  This  absurd 
and  devilish  doctrine  shocked  the  common  sense  of 
Thomas  Paine,  and  he  denounced  it  with  the  fervor 
of  honest  indignation.  This  doctrine,  although 
infinitely  ridiculous,  has  been  nearly  universal,  and 
has  been  as  hurtful  as  senseless.  For  the  over- 
throw of  this  infamous  tenet,  Paine  exerted  all  his 
strength.  He  left  few  arguments  to  be  used  by 
those  who  should  come  after  him,  and  he  used 
none  that  have  been  refuted.  The  combined  wis- 
dom and  genius  of  all  mankind  cannot  possibly 
conceive  of  an  argument  against  liberty  of  thought. 
Neither  can  they  show  why  any  one  should  be 
punished,  either  in  this  world  or  another,  for 
acting  honestly  in  accordance  with  reason;  and 
yet  a  doctrine  with  every  possible  argument 
against  it  has  been,  and  still  is,  believed  and 
defended  by  the  entire  orthodox  world.  Can 
it  be  possible  that  we  have  been  endowed  with 
reason  simply  that  our  souls  may  be  caught 
in  its  toils  and  snares,  that  we  may  be  led  by  its 
false  and  delusive  glare  out  of  the  narrow  path 
that  leads  to  joy  into  the  broad  way  of  ever- 
lasting death  ?  Is  it  possible  that  we  have  been 
given    reason    simply  that  we   may  through    faith 


THOMAS  PAINE.  143 

ignore  its  deductions,  and  avoid  its  conclusions  ? 
Ought  the  sailor  to  throw  away  his  compass  and 
depend  entirely  upon  the  fog?  If  reason  is  not 
to  be  depended  upon  in  matters  of  religion,  that 
is  to  say,  in  respect  of  our  duties  to  the  Deity, 
why  should  it  be  relied  upon  in  matters  respect- 
ing the  rights  of  our  fellows  ?  Why  should  we 
throw  away  the  laws  given  to  Moses  by  God 
himself  and  have  the  audacity  to  make  some  of 
our  own?  How  dare  we  drown  the  thunders  of 
Sinai  by  calling  the  ayes  and  noes  in  a  petty 
legislature?  If  reason  can  determine  what  is 
merciful,  what  is  just,  the  duties  of  man  to  man, 
what  more  do  we  want  either  in  time  or  eternity  ? 

Down,  forever  down,  with  any  religion  that 
requires  upon  its  ignorant  altar  the  sacrifice  of 
the  goddess  Reason,  that  compels  her  to  abdi- 
cate forever  the  shining  throne  of  the  soul,  strips 
from  her  form  the  imperial  purple,  snatches  from 
her  hand  the  sceptre  of  thought  and  makes  her 
the  bond-woman  of  a  senseless  faith  ! 

If  a  man  should  tell  you  that  he  had  the 
most  beautiful  painting  in  the  world,  and  after 
taking  you  where  it  was  should  insist  upon  hav- 
ing   your    eyes    shut,   you   would   likely   suspect, 


144  THOMAS  PAINE. 

either  that  he  had  no  painting  or  that  it  was 
some  pitiable  daub.  Should  he  tell  you  that  he 
was  a  most  excellent  performer  on  the  violin,  and 
yet  refuse  to  play  unless  your  ears  were  stopped, 
you  would  think,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  that  he 
had  an  odd  way  of  convincing  you  of  his  musical 
ability.  But  would  his  conduct  be  any  more 
wonderful  than  that  of  a  religionist  who  asks 
that  before  examining  his  creed  you  will  have  the 
kindness  to  throw  away  your  reason  ?  The  first 
gentleman  says,  "  Keep  your  eyes  shut,  my  pic- 
ture will  bear  everything  but  being  seen  ; "  "  Keep 
your  ears  stopped,  my  music  objects  to  nothing 
but  being  heard."  The  last  says,  "  Away  with 
your  reason,  my  religion  dreads  nothing  but  being 
understood." 

So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  most  cheerfully 
admit  that  most  Christians  are  honest,  and  most 
ministers  sincere.  We  do  not  attack  them ;  we 
attack  their  creed.  We  accord  to  them  the  same 
rights  that  we  ask  for  ourselves.  We  believe 
that  their  doctrines  are  hurtful.  We  believe  that 
the  frightful  text,  "  He  that  believes  shall  be 
saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned," 
has  covered  the  earth  with   blood.     It   has   filled 


THOMAS  PAINE.  145 

the  heart  with  arrogance,  cruelty  and  murder.  It 
has  caused  the  religious  wars ;  bound  hundreds, 
of  thousands  to  the  stake  ;  founded  inquisitions  ; 
filled  dungeons  ;  invented  instruments  of  torture  ; 
taught  the  mother  to  hate  her  child  ;  imprisoned 
the  mind;  filled  the  world  with  ignorance;  per- 
secuted the  lovers  of  wisdom  ;  built  the  monas- 
teries and  convents  ;  made  happiness  a  crime,  in- 
vestigation a  sin,  and  self-reliance  a  blasphemy. 
It  has  poisoned  the  springs  of  learning;  misdi- 
rected the  energies  of  the  world  ;  filled  all  coun- 
tries with  want ;  housed  the  people  in  hovels ; 
fed  them  with  famine  ;  and  but  for  the  efforts  of 
a  few  brave  Infidels  it  would  have  taken  the 
world  back  to  the  midnight  of  barbarism,  and 
left  the  heavens  without  a  star. 

The  maligners  of  Paine  say  that  he  had  no 
right  to  attack  this  doctrine,  because  he  was  un- 
acquainted with  the  dead  languages ;  and  for  this 
reason,  it  was  a  piece  of  pure  impudence  in  him 
to  investigate  the  Scriptures. 

Is  it  necessary  to  understand  Hebrew  in  order 
to  know  that  cruelty  is  not  a  virtue,  that  murder 
is  inconsistent  with  infinite  goodness,  and  that 
eternal    punishment   can    be    inflicted    upon    man 

IO 


146  THOMAS  PAINE. 


only  by  an  eternal  fiend?  Is  it  really  essential 
to  conjugate  the  Greek  verbs  before  you  can 
make  up  your  mind  as  to  the  probability  of  dead 
people  getting  out  of  their  graves?  Must  one 
be  versed  in  Latin  before  he  is  entitled  to  ex- 
press his  opinion  as  to  the  genuineness  of  a  pre- 
tended revelation  from  God  ?  Common  sense 
belongs  exclusively  to  no  tongue.  Logic  is  not 
confined  to,  nor  has  it  been  buried  with,  the  dead 
languages.  Paine  attacked  the  bible  as  it  is 
translated.  If  the  translation  is  wrong,  let  its 
defenders  correct  it 

The  Christianity  of  Paine's  day  is  not  the 
Christianity  of  our  time.  There  has  been  a 
great  improvement  since  then.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago  the  foremost  preachers  of 
our  time  would  have  perished  at  the  stake.  A 
Universalist  would  have  been  torn  in  pieces  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  America.  Unitarians 
would  have  found  themselves  in  the  stocks, 
pelted  by  the  rabble  with  dead  cats,  after  which 
their  ears  would  have  been  cut  off,  their  tongues 
bored,  and  their  foreheads  branded.  Less  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  following 
law  was  in  force  in  Maryland : 


THOMAS  PAINE.  147 

"  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Right  Honorable,  the  Lord  Pro- 
prietor, by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  his  Lord- 
ship's governor,  and  the  upper  and  lower  houses  of  the 
Assembly,  and  the  authority  of  the  same : 

"That  if  any  person  shall  hereafter,  within  this  province, 
wittingly,  maliciously,  and  advisedly,  by  writing  or  speaking, 
blaspheme  or  curse  God,  or  deny  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ, 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  or  shall  deny  the  Holy  Trinity,  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  Godhead  of  any  of  the 
three  persons,  or  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  or  shall  utter 
any  profane  words  concerning  the  Holy  Trinity,  or  any  of 
the  persons  thereof,  and  shall  thereof  be  convict  by  verdict, 
shall,  for  the  first  offense,  be  bored  through  the  tongue,  and 
fined  twenty  pounds  to  be  levied  of  his  body.  And  for  the 
second  offense,  the  offender  shall  be  stigmatized  by  burning 
in  the  forehead  with  the  letter  B,  and  fined  forty  pounds. 
And  that  for  the  third  offense,  the  offender  shall  suffer  death 
without  the  benefit  of  clergy." 

The  strange  thing  about  this  law  is,  that  it 
has  never  been  repealed,  and  is  still  in  force  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Laws  like  this  were 
in  force  in  most  of  the  colonies,  and  in  all  coun- 
tries where  the  Church  had  power. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  the  death  penalty  was 
attached  to  hundreds  of  offenses.  It  has  been 
the  same  in  all  Christian  countries.  To-day,  in 
civilized    governments,  the    death    penalty    is    at- 


148  THOMAS  PAINE. 

tached  only  to  murder  and  treason  ■  and  in  some 
it  has  been  entirely  abolished.  What  a  com- 
mentary upon  the  divine  systems  of  the  world  ! 
In  the  day  of  Thomas  Paine,  the  Church  was 
ignorant,  bloody  and  relentless.  In  Scotland  the 
"Kirk"  was  at  the  summit  of  its  power.  It  was 
a  full  sister  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  It  waged 
war  upon  human  nature.  It  was  the  enemy  of 
happiness,  the  hater  of  joy,  and  the  despiser  of 
religious  liberty.  It  taught  parents  to  murder 
their  children  rather  than  to  allow  them  to  prop- 
agate error.  If  the  mother  held  opinions  of 
which  the  infamous  "  Kirk"  disapproved,  her  chil- 
dren were  taken  from  her  arms,  her  babe  from 
her  very  bosom,  and  she  was  not  allowed  to  see 
them,  or  to  write  them  a  word.  It  would  not 
allow  shipwrecked  sailors  to  be  rescued  from 
drowning  on  Sunday.  It  sought  to  annihilate 
pleasure,  to  pollute  the  heart  by  filling  it  with 
religious  cruelty  and  gloom,  and  to  change  man- 
kind into  a  vast  horde  of  pious,  heartless  fiends. 
One  of  the  most  famous  Scotch  divines  said  : 
"  The  Kirk  holds  that  religious  toleration  is  not 
far  from  blasphemy."  And  this  same  Scotch  Kirk 
denounced,   beyond    measure,   the    man   who    had 


THOMAS  PAINE.  149 


the  moral  grandeur  to  say,  "The  world  is  my 
country,  and  to  do  good  my  religion."  And  this 
same  Kirk  abhorred  the  man  who  said,  "  Any 
system  of  religion  that  shocks  the  mind  of  a  child 
cannot  be  a  true  system.' 

At  that  time  nothing  so  delighted  the  Church 
as  the  beauties  of  endless  torment,  and  listening 
to  the  weak  wailings  of  damned  infants  struggling 
in  the  slimy  coils  and  poison-folds  of  the  worm 
that  never  dies. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, a  boy  by  the  name  of  Thomas  Aikenhead, 
was  indicted  and  tried  at  Edinburgh  for  having 
denied  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  for 
having,  on  several  occasions,  when  cold,  wished 
himself  in  hell  that  he  might  get  warm.  Not- 
withstanding the  poor  boy  recanted  and  begged 
for  mercy,  he  was  found  guilty  and  hanged.  His 
body  was  thrown  in  a  hole  at  the  foot  of  the 
scaffold  and  covered  with  stones. 

Prosecutions  and  executions  like  this  were 
common  in  every  Christian  country,  and  all  of 
them  were  based  upon  the  belief  that  an  intel- 
lectual conviction  is  a  crime. 

No  wonder  the  Church  hated  and  traduced 
the  author  of  the  "  Age  of   Reason." 


150  THOMAS  PAINE 

England  was  filled  with  Puritan  gloom  and 
Episcopal  ceremony.  All  religious  conceptions 
were  of  the  grossest  nature.  The  ideas  of  crazy- 
fanatics  and  extravagant  poets  were  taken  as 
sober  facts.  Milton  had  clothed  Christianity  in 
the  soiled  and  faded  finery  of  the  gods  —  had 
added  to  the  story  of  Christ  the  fables  of  Myth- 
ology. He  gave  to  the  Protestant  Church  the 
most  outrageously  material  ideas  of  the  Deity. 
He  turned  all  the  angels  into  soldiers  —  made 
Heaven  a  battlefield,  put  Christ  in  uniform,  and 
described  God  as  a  militia  general.  His  works 
were  considered  by  the  Protestants  nearly  as  sa- 
cred as  the  bible  itself,  and  the  imagination  of 
the  people  was  thoroughly  polluted  by  the  hor- 
rible imagery,  the  sublime  absurdity  of  the  blind 
Milton. 

Heaven  and  hell  were  realities  —  the  judgment- 
day  was  expected  —  books  of  account  would  be 
opened.  Every  man  would  hear  the  charges 
against  him  read.  God  was  supposed  to  sit  on 
a  golden  throne,  surrounded  by  the  tallest  angels, 
with  harps  in  their  hands  and  crowns  on  their 
heads.  The  goats  would  be  thrust  into  eternal 
fire  on  the  left,  while  the  orthodox  sheep,  on  the 


THOMAS  PAINE.  151 

right,  were  to  gambol  on  sunny  slopes  forever 
and  forever. 

The  nation  was  profoundly  ignorant,  and  con- 
sequently extremely  religious,  so  far  as  belief  was 
concerned. 

In  Europe,  Liberty  was  lying  chained  n  the 
Inquisition  —  her  white  bosom  stained  with  blood. 
In  the  new  world  the  Puritans  had  been  hanging 
and  burning  in  the  name  of  God,  and  selling 
white  Quaker  children  into  slavery  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  who  said,  "Suffer  little  children  to  come 
unto  me." 

Under  such  conditions  progress  was  impos- 
sible. Some  one  had  to  lead  the  way.  The 
Church  is,  and  always  has  been,  incapable  of  a 
forward  movement.  Religion  always  looks  back. 
The  Church  has  already  reduced  Spain  to  a  guitar, 
Italy  to  a  hand-organ,  and   Ireland  to  exile. 

Some  one  not  connected  with  the  Church  had 
to  attack  the  monster  that  was  eating  out  the 
heart  of  the  world.  Some  one  had  to  sacrifice 
himself  for  the  good  of  all.  The  people  were  in 
the  most  abject  slavery ;  their  manhood  had  been 
taken  from  them  by  pomp,  by  pageantry  and 
power.     Progress  is  born   of   doubt   and   inquiry. 


152  THOMAS  PAINE. 


The  Church  never  doubts — never  inquires.  To 
doubt  is  heresy — to  inquire  is  to  admit  that  you 
do  not  know  —  the  Church  does   neither. 

More  than  a  century  ago  Catholicism,  wrapped 
in  robes  red  with  the  innocent  blood  of  millions, 
holding  in  her  frantic  clutch  crowns  and  scepters, 
honors  and  gold,  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell, 
trampling  beneath  her  feet  the  liberties  of  nations, 
in  the  proud  moment  of  almost  universal  domin- 
ion, felt  within  her  heartless  breast  the  deadly 
dagger  of  Voltaire.  From  that  blow  the  Church 
never  can  recover.  Livid  with  hatred  she  launched 
her  eternal  anathema  at  the  great  destroyer,  and 
ignorant  Protestants  have  echoed  the  curse  of 
Rome. 

In  our  country  the  Church  was  all-powerful, 
and  although  divided  into  many  sects,  would  in- 
stantly unite  to  repel  a  common  foe. 

Paine  struck  the  first  grand  blow. 

The  "Age  of  Reason"  did  more  to  undermine 
the  power  of  the  Protestant  Church  than  all  other 
books  then  known.  It  furnished  an  immense 
amount  of  food  for  thought.  It  was  written  for 
the  average  mind,  and  is  a  straightforward,  honest 
investigation  of  the  bible,  and  of  the  Christian 
system. 


THOMAS  PAINE.  153 

Paine  did  not  falter,  from  the  first  page  to  the 
last.  He  gives  you  his  candid  thought,  and  can- 
did thoughts  are  always  valuable. 

The  "Age  of  Reason "  has  liberalized  us  all. 
It  put  arguments  in  the  mouths  of  the  people  ; 
it  put  the  Church  on  the  defensive ;  it  enabled 
somebody  in  every  village  to  corner  the  parson  ; 
it  made  the  world  wiser,  and  the  Church  better; 
it  took  power  from  the  pulpit  and  divided  it  among 
the  pews. 

Just  in  proportion  that  the  human  race  has 
advanced,  the  Church  has  lost  power.  There  is 
no  exception  to  this  rule. 

No  nation  ever  materially  advanced  that  held 
strictly  to  the  religion  of  its  founders. 

No  nation  ever  gave  itself  wholly  to  the  control 
of  the  Church  without  losing  its  power  its  honor, 
and  existence. 

Every  Church  pretends  to  have  found  the  exact 
truth.  This  is  the  end  of  progress.  Why  pursue 
that  which  you  have  ?  Why  investigate  when  you 
know  ? 

Every  creed  is  a  rock  in  running  water :  hu- 
manity sweeps  by  it.  Every  creed  cries  to  the 
universe,  "Halt!"  A  creed  is  the  ignorant  Past 
bullying  the  enlightened   Present. 


154  THOMAS  PAINE. 

The  ignorant  are  not  satisfied  with  what  can 
be  demonstrated.  Science  is  too  slow  for  them,  and 
so  they  invent  creeds.  They  demand  complete- 
ness. A  sublime  segment,  a  grand  fragment,  are 
of  no  value  to  them.  They  demand  the  complete 
circle — the  entire  structure. 

In  music  they  want  a  melody  with  a  recurring 
accent  at  measured  periods.  In  religion  they  in- 
sist upon-  immediate  answers  to  the  questions  of 
creation  and  destiny.  The  alpha  and  omega  of 
all  things  must  be  in  the  alphabet  of  their  super- 
stition. A  religion  that  cannot  answer  every 
question,  and  guess  every  conundrum  is,  in  their 
estimation,  worse  than  worthless.  They  desire  a 
kind  of  theological  dictionary  —  a  religious  ready 
reckoner,  together  with  guide-boards  at  all  cross- 
ings and  turns.  They  mistake  impudence  for 
authority,  solemnity  for  wisdom,  and  bathos  for 
inspiration.  The  beginning  and  the  end  are  what 
they  demand.  The  grand  flight  of  the  eagle  is 
nothing  to  them.  They  want  the  nest  in  which 
he  was  hatched,  and  especially  the  dry  limb  upon 
which  he  roosts.  Anything  that  can  be  learned 
is  hardly  worth  knowing.  The  present  is  consid- 
ered of   no  value  in  itself.     Happiness   must  not 


THOMAS  PAINE.  155 


be  expected  this  side  of  the  clouds,  and  can  only 
be  attained  by  self-denial  and  faith;  not  self- 
denial  for  the  good  of  others,  but  for  the  salva- 
tion of  your  own  sweet  self. 

Paine  denied  the  authority  of  bibles  and 
creeds ;  this  was  his  crime,  and  for  this  the 
world  shut  the  door  in  his  face,  and  emptied  its 
slops  upon  him  from  the  windows. 

I  challenge  the  world  to  show  that  Thomas 
Paine  ever  wrote  one  line,  one  word  in  favor  of 
tyranny  —  in  favor  of  immorality;  one  line,  one 
word  against  what  he  believed  to  be  for  the  high- 
est  and  best  interest  of  mankind  ;  one  line,  one 
word  against  justice,  charity,  or  liberty,  and  yet 
he  has  been  pursued  as  though  he  had  been  a 
fiend  from  hell.  His  memory  has  been  execrated 
as  though  he  had  murdered  some  Uriah  for  his 
wife ;  driven  some  Hagar  into  the  desert  to 
starve  with  his  child  upon  her  bosom  ;  defiled  his 
own  daughters ;  ripped  open  with  the  sword  the 
sweet  bodies  of  loving  and  innocent  women  ;  ad- 
vised one  brother  to  assassinate  another;  kept  a 
harem  with  seven  hundred  wives  and  three  hun- 
dred concubines,  or  had  persecuted  Christians 
even  unto  strange  cities. 


156  THOMAS  PAINE. 


The  Church  has  pursued  Paine  to  deter  oth- 
ers. No  effort  has  been  in  any  age  of  the  world 
spared  to  crush  out  opposition.  The  Church 
used  painting,  music  and  architecture,  simply  to 
degrade  mankind.  But  there  are  men  that  noth- 
ing can  awe.  There  have  been  at  all  times  brave 
spirits  that  dared  even  the  gods.  Some  proud 
head  has  always  been  above  the  waves.  In  every 
age  some  Diogenes  has  sacrificed  to  all  the  gods. 
True  genius  never  cowers,  and  there  is  always 
some  Samson  feeling  for  the  pillars  of  authority. 

Cathedrals  and  domes,  and  chimes  and  chants 
- — temples  frescoed  and  groined  and  carved,  and 
gilded  with  gold  —  altars  and  tapers,  and  paint- 
ings of  virgin  and  babe  —  censer  and  chalice  — 
chasuble,  paten  and  alb  —  organs,  and  anthems 
and  incense  rising  to  the  winged  and  blest  —  man- 
iple, amice  and  stole  —  crosses  and  crosiers,  tiaras 
and  crowns  —  mitres  and  missals  and  masses  — 
rosaries,  relics  and  robes  —  martyrs  and  saints, 
and  windows  stained  as  with  the  blood  of  Christ 
—  never,  never  for  one  moment  awed  the  brave, 
proud  spirit  of  the  Infidel.  He  knew  that  all 
the  pomp  and  glitter  had  been  purchased  with 
Liberty  —  that    priceless    jewel   of    the   soul.     In 


THOMAS  PAINE.  157 

looking  at  the  cathedral  he  remembered  the  dun- 
geon. The  music  of  the  organ  was  not  loud 
enough  to  drown  the  clank  of  fetters.  He  could 
not  forget  that  the  taper  had  lighted  the  fagot 
He  knew  that  the  cross  adorned  the  hilt  of  the 
sword,  and  so  where  others  worshiped,  he  wept 
and  scorned. 

The  doubter,  the  investigator,  the  Infidel,  have 
been  the  saviors  of  liberty.  This  truth  is  begin- 
ning to  be  realized,  and  the  truly  intellectual  are 
honoring  the  brave  thinkers  of  the  past. 

But  the  Church  is  as  unforgiving  as  ever,  and 
still  wonders  why  any  Infidel  should  be  wicked 
enough  to  endeavor  to  destroy  her  power. 

I  will  tell  the  Church  why. 

You  have  imprisoned  the  human  mind;  you 
have  been  the  enemy  of  liberty ;  you  have  burned 
us  at  the  stake  —  wasted  us  upon  slow  fires  — 
torn  our  flesh  with  iron ;  you  have  covered  us 
with  chains  —  treated  us  as  outcasts;  you  have 
filled  the  world  with  fear ;  you  have  taken  our 
wives  and  children  from  our  arms ;  you  have 
confiscated  our  property ;  you  have  denied  us  the 
right  to  testify  in  courts  of  justice ;  you  have 
branded  us  with  infamy ;   you   have  torn  out  our 


158  THOMAS  PAINE. 

tongues;  you  have  refused  us  burial.  In  the 
name  of  your  religion,  you  have  robbed  us  of 
every  right ;  and  after  having  inflicted  upon  us 
every  evil  that  can  be  inflicted  in  this  world,  you 
have  fallen  upon  your  knees,  and  with  clasped 
hands  implored  your  God  to  torment  us  forever. 
Can  you  wonder  that  we  hate  your  doctrines 

—  that  we  despise  your  creeds  —  that  we  feel 
proud   to   know  that   we   are   beyond   your  power 

—  that  we  are  free  in  spite  of  you  —  that  we  can 
express  our  honest  thought,  and  that  the  whole 
world  is  grandly  rising  into  the  blessed  light? 

Can  you  wonder  that  we  point  with  pride  to 
the  fact  that  Infidelity  has  ever  been  found  bat- 
tling for  the  rights  of  man,  for  the  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  for  the  happiness  of  all  ? 

Can  you  wonder  that  we  are  proud  to  know 
that  we  have  always  been  disciples  of  Reason, 
and  soldiers  of  Freedom ;  that  we  have  de- 
nounced tyranny  and  superstition,  and  have  kept 
our  hands  unstained  with  human  blood  ? 

We  deny  that  religion  is  the  end  or  object 
of  this  life.  When  it  is  so  considered  it  becomes 
destructive  of  happiness  —  the  real  end  of  life. 
It  becomes   a   hydra-headed  monster,  reaching  in 


THOMAS  PAINE.  159 

terrible  coils  from  the  heavens,  and  thrusting  its 
thousand  fangs  into  the  bleeding,  quivering  hearts 
of  men.  It  devours  their  substance,  builds  pal- 
aces for  God,  (who  dwells  not  in  temples  made 
with  hands,)  and  allows  his  children  to  die  in 
huts  and  hovels.  It  fills  the  earth  with  mourn- 
ing, heaven  with  hatred,  the  present  with  fear, 
and  all  the  future  with  despair. 

Virtue  is  a  subordination  of  the  passions  to 
the  intellect.  It  is  to  act  in  accordance  with 
your  highest  convictions.  It  does  not  consist  in 
believing,  but  in  doing.  This  is  the  sublime  truth 
that  the  Infidels  in  all  ages  have  uttered.  They 
have  handed  the  torch  from  one  to  the  other 
through  all  the  years  that  have  fled.  Upon  the 
altar  of  Reason  they  have  kept  the  sacred  fire, 
and  through  the  long  midnight  of  faith  they  fed 
the  divine  flame. 

Infidelity  is  liberty;  all  religion  is  slavery.  In 
every  creed  man  is  the  slave  of  God  —  woman  is 
the  slave  of  man  and  the  sweet  children  are  the 
slaves  of  all. 

We  do  not  want  creeds ;  we  want  knowledge 
—  we  want  happiness. 

And  yet  we  are  told  by  the  Church  that  we 
have  accomplished  nothing;    that   we   are    simply 


1G0  THOMAS  PAINE. 


destroyers ;  that  we  tear  down  without  building 
again. 

Is  it  nothing  to  free  the  mind?  Is  it  noth- 
ing to  civilize  mankind?  Is  it  nothing  to  fill  the 
world  with  light,  with  discovery,  with  science  ? 
Is  it.  nothing  to  dignify  man  and  exalt  the  intel- 
lect? Is  it  nothing  to  grope  your  way  into  the 
dreary  prisons,  the  damp  and  dropping  dungeons, 
the  dark  and  silent  cells  of  superstition,  where 
the  souls  of  men  are  chained  to  floors  of  stone ; 
to  greet  them  like  a  ray  of  light,  like  the  song  of 
a  bird,  the  murmur  of  a  stream  ;  to  see  the  dull 
eyes  open  and  grow  slowly  bright ;  to  feel  your- 
self grasped  by  the  shrunken  and  unused  hands, 
and  hear  yourself  thanked  by  a  strange  and  hol- 
low voice  ? 

Is  it  nothing  to  conduct  these  souls  gradually 
into  the  blessed  light  of  day  —  to  let  them  see 
again  the  happy  fields,  the  sweet,  green  earth,  and 
hear  the  everlasting  music  of  the  waves?  Is  it 
nothing  to  make  men  wipe  the  dust  from  their 
swollen  knees,  the  tears  from  their  blanched  and 
furrowed  cheeks?  Is  it  a  small  thing  to  reave 
the  heavens  of  an  insatiate  monster  and  write 
upon  the  eternal  dome,  glittering  with  stars,  the 
grand  word  —  Freedom  ? 


THOMAS  PAINE.  161 


Is  it  a  small  thing  to  quench  the  flames  of 
hell  with  the  holy  tears  of  pity  —  to  unbind  the 
martyr  from  the  stake  —  break  all  the  chains  — 
put  out  the  fires  of  civil  war  —  stay  the  sword 
of  the  fanatic,  and  tear  the  bloody  hands  of  the 
Church  from  the  white  throat  of  Science? 

Is  it  a  small  thing  to  make  men  truly  free  — 
to  destroy  the  dogmas  of  ignorance,  prejudice 
and  power — the  poisoned  fables  of  superstition, 
and  drive  from  the  beautiful  face  of  the  earth  the 
fiend  of  Fear? 

It  does  seem  as  though  the  most  zealous 
Christian  must  at  times  entertain  some  doubt  as 
to  the  divine  origin  of  his  religion.  For  eight- 
een hundred  years  the  doctrine  has  been  preached. 
For  more  than  a  thousand  years  the  Church  had, 
to  a  great  extent,  the  control  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  what  has  been  the  result?  Are  the 
Christian  nations  patterns  of  charity  and  forbear- 
ance ?  On  the  contrary,  their  principal  business 
is  to  destroy  each  other.  More  than  five  millions 
of  Christians  are  trained,  educated,  and  drilled 
to  murder  their  fellow-christians.  Every  nation 
is  groaning  under  a  vast  debt  incurred  in  carry- 
ing on  war  against  other  Christians,  or  defending 


162  THOMAS  PAINE. 

itself  from  Christian  assault.  The  world  is  cov- 
ered with  forts  to  protect  Christians  from  Chris- 
tians, and  every  sea  is  covered  with  iron  mon- 
sters ready  to  blow  Christian  brains  into  eter- 
nal froth.  Millions  upon  millions  are  annually 
expended  in  the  effort  to  construct  still  more 
deadly  and  terrible  engines  of  death.  Industry 
is  crippled,  honest  toil  is  robbed,  and  even  beg- 
gary is  taxed  to  defray  the  expenses  of  Christian 
warfare.  There  must  be  some  other  way  to  re- 
form this  world.  We  have  tried  creed,  and 
dogma  and  fable,  and  they  have  failed ;  and  they 
have  failed  in  all  the  nations  dead. 

The  people  perish  for  the  lack  of  knowledge. 

Nothing  but  education  —  scientific  education  — 
can  benefit  mankind.  We  must  find  out  the  laws 
of  nature  and  conform  to  them. 

We  need  free  bodies  and  free  minds, —  free 
labor  and  free  thought, —  chainless  hands  and  fet- 
terless brains.  Free  labor  will  give  us  wealth. 
Free  thought  will  give  us  truth. 

We  need  men  with  moral  courage  to  speak 
and  write  their  real  thoughts,  and  to  stand  by 
their  convictions,  even  to  the  very  death.  We 
need  have    no    fear   of    being    too    radical.      The 


THOMAS  PAINE.  163 

future  will  verify  all  grand  and  brave  predictions. 
Paine  was  splendidly  in  advance  of  his  time ;  but 
he  was  orthodox  compared  with  the  Infidels  of 
to-day. 

Science,  the  great  Iconoclast,  has  been  busy 
since  1809,  and  by  the  highway  of  Progress  are 
the  broken  images  of  the   Past. 

On  every  hand  the  people  advance.  The  Vicar 
of  God  has  been  pushed  from  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars,  and  upon  the  roofs  of  the  Eternal  City 
falls  once  more  the  shadow  of  the  Eagle. 

All  has  been  accomplished  by  the  heroic  few. 
The  men  of  science  have  explored  heaven  and 
earth,  and  with  infinite  patience  have  furnished 
the  facts.  The  brave  thinkers  have  used  them. 
The  gloomy  caverns  of  superstition  have  been 
transformed  into  temples  of  thought,  and  the 
demons  of  the  past  are  the  angels  of  to-day. 

Science  took  a  handful  of  sand,  constructed  a 
telescope,  and  with  it  explored  the  starry  depths 
of  heaven.  Science  wrested  from  the  gods  their 
thunderbolts  ;  and  now,  the  electric  spark,  freighted 
with  thought  and  love,  flashes  under  all  the  waves 
of  the  sea.  Science  took  a  tear  from  the  cheek 
of  unpaid  labor,  converted  it  into   steam,  created 


164  THOMAS  PAINE. 

a  giant  that  turns  with  tireless  arm,  the  countless 
wheels  of  toil. 

Thomas  Paine  was  one  of  the  intellectual 
heroes  —  one  of  the  men  to  whom  we  are  indebted. 
His  name  is  associated  forever  with  the  Great 
Republic.  As  long  as  free  government  exists  he 
will  be  remembered,  admired  and  honored. 

He  lived  a  long,  laborious  and  useful  life.  The 
world  is  better  for  his  having  lived.  For  the  sake 
of  truth  he  accepted  hatred  and  reproach  for  his 
portion.  He  ate  the  bitter  bread  of  sorrow.  His 
friends  were  untrue  to  him  because  he  was  true 
to  himself,  and  true  to  them.  He  lost  the  respect 
of  what  is  called  society,  but  kept  his  own.  His 
life  is  what  the  world  calls  failure  and  what  his- 
tory calls  success. 

If  to  love  your  fellow-men  more  than  self  is 
goodness,  Thomas  Paine  was  good. 

If  to  be  in  advance  of  your  time  —  to  be  a 
pioneer  in  the  direction  of  right  —  is  greatness, 
Thomas  Paine  was  great. 

If  to  avow  your  principles  and  discharge  your 
duty  in  the  presence  of  death  is  heroic,  Thomas 
Paine  was  a  hero. 

At  the  age  of  seventy-three,  death  touched  his 
tired    heart.      He    died    in    the    land    his    genius 


THOMAS  PAINE.  165 

defended  —  under  the  flag  he  gave  to  the  skies. 
Slander  cannot  touch  him  now  —  hatred  cannot 
reach  him  more.  He  sleeps  in  the  sanctuary  of 
the  tomb,  beneath   the  quiet  of  the  stars. 

A  few  more  years  —  a  few  more  brave  men  —  a 
few  more  rays  of  light,  and  mankind  will  venerate 
the  memory  of  him  who  said : 

"Any  system  of  Religion  that  shocks  the 
mind  of  a  child  cannot  be  a  true  system;" 

"  The  world  is  my  Country,  and  to  do  good 
my  Religion." 


INDIVIDUALITY. 


INDIVIDUALITY. 


"His  Soul  was  like  a  Star  and  dwelt  apart." 

ON  every  hand  are  the  enemies  of  individuality 
and  mental  freedom.  Custom  meets  us  at 
the  cradle  and  leaves  us  only  at  the  tomb.  Our 
first  questions  are  answered  by  ignorance,  and  our 
last  by  superstition.  We  are  pushed  and  dragged 
by  countless  hands  along  the  beaten  track,  and 
our  entire  training  can  be  summed  up  in  the  word 
—  suppression.  Our  desire  to  have  a  thing  or  to 
do  a  thing-  is  considered  as  conclusive  evidence 
that  we  ought  not  to  have  it,  and  ought  not  to 
do  it.  At  every  turn  we  run  against  cherubim 
and^  a  flaming  sword  guarding  some  entrance  to 
the  Eden  of  our  desire.  We  are  allowed  to  in- 
vestigate all  subjects  in  which  we  feel  no  particular 
interest,  and  to  express  the  opinions  of  the  ma- 
jority with  the  utmost  freedom.  We  are  taught 
that  liberty  of  speech  should  never  be  carried  to 


170  INDIVIDUALITY. 


the  extent  of  contradicting  the  dead  witnesses  of 
a  popular  superstition.  Society  offers  continual 
rewards  for  self-betrayal,  and  they  are  nearly  all 
earned  and  claimed,  and  some  are  paid. 

We  have  all  read  accounts  of  Christian  gentle- 
men remarking,  when  about  to  be  hanged,  how 
much  better  it  would  have  been  for  them  if  they 
had  only  followed  a  mother's  advice.  But  after 
all,  how  fortunate  it  is  for  the  world  that  the 
maternal  advice  has  not  always  been  followed. 
How  fortunate  it  is  for  us  all  that  it  is  somewhat 
unnatural  for  a  human  being  to  obey.  Universal 
obedience  is  universal  stagnation  ;  disobedience  is 
one  of  the  conditions  of  progress.  Select  any  age 
of  the  world  and  tell  me  what  would  have  been 
the  effect  of  implicit  obedience.  Suppose  the 
Church  had  had  absolute  control  of  the  human 
mind  at  any  time,  would  not  the  words  liberty 
and  progress  have  been  blotted  from  human 
speech?  In  defiance  of  advice,  the  world  has 
advanced. 

Suppose  the  astronomers  had  controlled  the 
science  of  astronomy ;  suppose  the  doctors  had 
controlled  the  science  of  medicine  ;  suppose  kings 
had  been  left  to  fix  the  forms  of  government ;  sup- 


INDIVIDUALITY.  171 

pose  our  fathers  had  taken  the  advice  of  Paul, 
who  said,  "  be  subject  to  the  powers  that  be, 
because  they  are  ordained  of  God ; "  suppose  the 
Church  could  control  the  world  to-day,  we  would 
go  back  to  chaos  and  old  night.  Philosophy 
would  be  branded  as  infamous ;  Science  would 
again  press  its  pale  and  thoughtful  face  against 
the  prison  bars,  and  round  the  limbs  of  liberty 
would  climb  the  bigots  flame. 

It  is  a  blessed  thing  that  in  every  age  some 
one  has  had  individuality  enough  and  courage 
enough  to  stand  by  his  own  convictions,  —  some 
one  who  had  the  grandeur  to  say  his  say.  I 
believe  it  was  Magellan  who  said,  "  The  Church 
says  the  earth  is  flat ;  but  I  have  seen  its  shadow 
on  the  moon,  and  I  have  more  confidence  even 
in  a  shadow  than  in  the  Church."  On  the  prow 
of  his  ship  were  disobedience,  defiance,  scorn, 
and  success. 

The  trouble  with  most  people  is,  they  bow 
to  what  is  called  authority  ;  they  have  a  certain 
reverence  for  the  old  because  it  is  old.  They 
think  a  man  is  better  for  being  dead,  especially 
if  he  has  been  dead  a  long  time.  They  think 
the  fathers  of  their  nation  were  the  greatest  and 


172  INDIVIDUALITY. 

best  of  all  mankind.  All  these  things  they  im- 
plicitly believe  because  it  is  popular  and  patriotic, 
and  because  they  were  told  so  when  they  were 
very  small,  and  remember  distinctly  of  hearing 
mother  read  it  out  of  a  book.  It  is  hard  to 
over-estimate  the  influence  of  early  training  in 
the  direction  of  superstition.  You  first  teach 
children  that  a  certain  book  is  true  —  that  it  was 
written  by  God  himself — that  to  question  its 
truth  is  a  sin,  that  to  deny  it  is  a  crime,  and 
that  should  they  die  without  believing  that  book 
they  will  be  forever  damned  without  benefit  of 
clergy.  The  consequence  is,  that  long  before 
they  read  that  book ,  they  believe  it  to  be  true. 
When  they  do  read  it  their  minds  are  wholly 
unfitted  to  investigate  its  claims.  They  accept 
it  as  a  matter  of  course. 

In  this  way  the  reason  is  overcome,  the  sweet 
instincts  of  humanity  are  blotted  from  the  heart, 
and  while  reading  its  infamous  pages  even  justice 
throws  aside  her  scales,  shrieking  for  revenge,  and 
charity,  with  bloody  hands,  applauds  a  deed  of 
murder.  In  this  way  we  are  taught  that  the  re-' 
venge  of  man  is  the  justice  of  God  ;  that  mercy 
is    not   the   same   everywhere.     In   this    way    the 


INDIVIDUALITY.  173 

ideas  of  our  race  have  been  subverted.  In  this 
way  we  have  made  tyrants,  bigots,  and  inquisitors. 
In  this  way  the  brain  of  man  has  become  a  kind 
of  palimpsest  upon  which,  and  over  the  writings 
of  nature,  superstition  has  scrawled  her  countless 
lies.  One  great  trouble  is  that  most  teachers  are 
dishonest.  They  teach  as  certainties  those  things 
concerning  which  they  entertain  doubts.  They 
do  not  say,  "  we  think  this  is  so,"  but  "  we  know 
this  is  so."  They  do  not  appeal  to  the  reason 
of  the  pupil,  but  they  command  his  faith.  They 
keep  all  doubts  to  themselves ;  they  do  not  ex- 
plain, they  assert.  All  this  is  infamous.  In  this 
way  you  may  make  Christians,  but  you  cannot 
make  men ;  you  cannot  make  women.  You  can 
make  followers,  but  no  leaders  ;  disciples,  but  no 
Christs.  You  may  promise  power,  honor,  and 
happiness  to  all  those  who  will  blindly  follow, 
but  you  cannot  keep  your  promise. 

A  monarch  said  to  a  hermit,  "  Come  with  me 
and   I  will  give  you  power." 

"  I   have  all  the    power    that    I    know    how    to 
use,"  replied  the  hermit. 

"  Come,"  said  the  king,  "  I  will  give  you  wealth." 

"  I    have    no    wants    that    money  can    supply," 
said  the   hermit. 


174  INDIVIDUALITY. 


"  I  will  give  you  honor,"  said  the  monarch. 

"  Ah,  honor  cannot  be  given,  it  must  be  earned," 
was  the  hermit's  answer. 

"  Come,"  said  the  king,  making  a  last  appeal, 
"  and   I  will  give  you  happiness." 

"  No,"  said  the  man  of  solitude,  "  there  is  no 
happiness  without  liberty,  and  he  who  follows 
cannot  be  free." 

"  You  shall  have  liberty  too "  said  the  king. 

"  Then  I  will  stay  where  I  am,"  said  the  old 
man. 

And  all  the  king's  courtiers  thought  the  her- 
mit a  fool. 

Now  and  then  somebody  examines,  and  in 
spite  of  all  keeps  his  manhood,  and  has  the  cour- 
age to  follow  where  his  reason  leads.  Then  the 
pious  get  together  and  repeat  wise  saws,  and 
exchange  knowing  nods  and  most  prophetic 
winks.  The  stupidly  wise  sit  owl-like  on  the 
dead  limbs  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  sol-, 
emnly  hoot.  Wealth  sneers,  and  fashion  laughs, 
and  respectability  passes  by  on  the  other  side, 
and  scorn  points  with  all  her  skinny  fingers,  and 
all  the  snakes  of  superstition  writhe  and  hiss, 
and   slander    lends    her   tongue,   and    infamy   her 


INDIVIDUALITY.  175 


brand,  and  perjury  her  oath,  and  the  law  its 
power,  and  bigotry  tortures,  and  the  Church 
kills. 

The  Church  hates  a  thinker  precisely  for 
the  same  reason  a  robber  dislikes  a  sheriff,  or  a 
thief  despises  the  prosecuting  witness.  Tyranny 
likes  courtiers,  flatterers,  followers,  fawners,  and 
superstition  wants  believers,  disciples,  zealots, 
hypocrites,  and  subscribers.  The  Church  demands 
worship  —  the  very  thing  that  man  should  give 
to  no  being,  human  or  divine.  To  worship  an- 
other is  to  degrade  yourself.  Worship  is  awe 
and  dread  and  vague  fear  and  blind  hope.  It 
is  the  spirit  of  worship  that  elevates  the  one 
and  degrades  the  many ;  that  builds  palaces  for 
robbers,  erects  monuments  to  crime,  and  forges 
manacles  even  for  its  own  hands.  The  spirit 
of  worship  is  the  spirit  of  tyranny.  The 
worshiper  always  regrets  that  he  is  not  the 
worshiped.  We  should  all  remember  that  the 
intellect  has  no  knees,  and  that  whatever  the 
attitude  of  the  body  may  be,  the  brave  soul 
is  always  found  erect.  Whoever  worships,  abdi- 
cates. Whoever  believes  at  the  command  of 
power,  tramples  his  own  individuality  beneath  his 


176  INDIVIDUALITY. 

feet,  and  voluntarily  robs  himself  of  all  that  ren- 
ders man  superior  to  the  brute. 

The  despotism  of  faith  is  justified  upon  the 
ground  that  Christian  countries  are  the  grandest 
and  most  prosperous  of  the  world.  At  one  time 
the  same  thing  could  have  been  truly  said  in 
India,  in  Egypt,  in  Greece,  in  Rome,  and  in  every 
other  country  that  has,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  swept  to  empire.  This  argument  proves 
too  much  not  only,  but  the  assumption  upon 
which  it  is  based  is  utterly  false.  Numberless 
circumstances  and  countless  conditions  have  pro- 
duced the  prosperity  of  the  Christian  world.  The 
truth  is,  we  have  advanced  in  spite  of  religious 
zeal,  ignorance,  and  opposition.  The  Church  has 
won  no  victories  for  the  rights  of  man.  Luther 
labored  to  reform  the  Church  —  Voltaire,  to  re- 
form men.  Over  every  fortress  of  tyranny  has 
waved,  and  still  waves,  the  banner  of  the  Church. 
Wherever  brave  blood  has  been  shed,  the  sword 
of  the  Church  has  been  wet.  On  every  chain  has 
been  the  sign  of  the  cross.  The  altar  and  throne 
have  leaned  against  and  supported  each  other. 

All  that  is  good  in  our  civilization  is  the  result 
of  commerce,  climate,  soil,  geographical   position, 


INDIVIDUALITY.  17T 

industry,  invention,  discovery,  art,  and  science. 
The  Church  has  been  the  enemy  of  progress,  for 
the  reason  that  it  has  endeavored  to  prevent  man 
thinking  for  himself.  To  prevent  thought  is  to 
prevent  all  advancement  except  in  the  direction 
of  faith. 

Who  can  imagine  the  infinite  impudence  of 
a  Church  assuming  to  think  for  the  human  race? 
Who  can  imagine  the  infinite  impudence  of  a 
Church  that  pretends  to  be  the  mouthpiece  of 
God,  and  in  his  name  threatens  to  inflict  eternal 
punishment  upon  those  who  honestly  reject  its 
claims  and  scorn  its  pretensions  ?  By  what  right 
does  a  man,  or  an  organization  of  men,  or  a  god, 
claim  to  hold  a  brain  in  bondage  ?  When  a  fact 
can  be  demonstrated,  force  is  unnecessary ;  when 
it  cannot  be  demonstrated,  an  appeal  to  force  is 
infamous.  In  the  presence  of  the  unknown  all 
have  an  equal  right  to  think. 

Over  the  vast  plain,  called  life,  we  are  all 
travelers,  and  not  one  traveler  is  perfectly  certain 
that  he  is  going  in  the  right  direction.  True  it 
is  that  no  other  plain  is  so  well  supplied  with 
guide-boards.  At  every  turn  and  crossing  you  will 
find  them,  and  upon  each  one  is  written  the  exact 


INDIVID  UALITY. 


direction    and    distance.      One    great    trouble    isv 
however,  that  these    boards   are   all   different,  and 
the   result  is   that  most  travelers  are   confused  in 
proportion  to  the  number   they  read.     Thousands 
of   people  are  around  each   of   these    signs,  and 
each  one  is  doing  his  best  to  convince    the   trav- 
eler   that   his    particular    board    is    the   only  one 
upon  which  the  least  reliance  can  be   placed,  and 
that  if  his  road  is  taken  the  reward  for  so  doing 
will   be    infinite    and    eternal,  while   all   the   other 
roads  are  said  to  lead  to  hell,  and  all  the   makers 
of    the     other   guide-boards    are    declared    to    be 
heretics,  hypocrites  and  liars.    "  Well,"  says  a  trav- 
eler, "  you  may  be  right  in  what  you  say,  but  allow 
me  at  least  to  read  some  of   the  other  directions 
and  examine  a  little  into  their  claims.     I  wish  to 
rely  a  little  upon  my  own  judgment  in  a  matter  of 
so  great  importance."     "No,  sir,"  shouts  the  zealot, 
"that  is  the  very  thing  you  are  not  allowed  to  do. 
You   must   go    my    way  without    investigation,  or 
you    are   as    good  as   damned   already."      "  Well," 
says  the  traveler,  "  if   that    is  so,  I   believe   I   had 
better  go  your  way."     And  so  most  of   them  go 
along,  taking  the  word  of  those  who  know  as  little 
as  themselves.     Now  and  then  comes  one  who,  in 


INDIVIDUALITY.  179 

spite  of  all  threats,  calmly  examines  the  claims  of 
all,  and  as  calmly  rejects  them  all.  These  trav- 
elers take  roads  of  their  own,  and  are  denounced 
by  all  the  others,  as  infidels  and  atheists. 

Around  all  of  these  guide-boards,  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  reach,  the  ground  is  covered  with 
mountains  of  human  bones,  crumbling  and  bleach- 
ing in  the  rain  and  sun.  They  are  the  bones  of 
murdered  men  and  women  —  fathers,  mothers  and 
babes. 

In  my  judgment,  every  human  being  should 
take  a  road  of  his  own.  Every  mind  should  be 
true  to  itself — should  think,  investigate  and  con- 
clude for  itself.  This  is  a  duty  alike  incumbent 
upon  pauper  and  prince.  Every  soul  should 
repel  dictation  and  tyranny,  no  matter  from  what 
source  they  come  —  from  earth  or  heaven,  from 
men  or  gods.  Besides,  every  traveler  upon  this 
vast  plain  should  give  to  every  other  traveler  his 
best  idea  as  to  the  road  that  should  be  taken. 
Each  is  entitled  to  the  honest  opinion  of  all. 
And  there  is  but  one  way  to  get  an  honest 
opinion  upon  any  subject  whatever.  The  person 
giving  the  opinion  must  be  free  from  fear.  The 
merchant  must  not  fear   to    lose   his    custom,  the 


180  INDIVIDUALITY. 

doctor  his  practice,  nor  the  preacher  his  pulpit. 
There  can  be  no  advance  without  liberty.  Sup- 
pression of  honest  inquiry  is  retrogression,  and 
must  end  in  intellectual  night.  The  tendency  of 
orthodox  religion  to-day  is  toward  mental  slavery 
and  barbarism.  Not  one  of  the  orthodox  minis- 
ters dare  preach  what  he  thinks  if  he  knows 
a  majority  of  his  congregation  think  otherwise. 
He  knows  that  every  member  of  his  church  stands 
guard  over  his  brain  with  a  creed,  like  a  club,  in 
his  hand.  He  knows  that  he  is  not  expected  to 
search  after  the  truth,  but  that  he  is  employed  to 
defend  the  creed.  Every  pulpit  is  a  pillory,  in 
which  stands  a  hired  culprit,  defending  the  justice 
of  his  own  imprisonment. 

Is  it  desirable  that  all  should  be  exactly  alike 
in  their  religious  convictions?  Is  any  such  thing 
possible?  Do  we  not  know  that  there  are  no 
two  persons  alike  in  the  whole  world  ?  No  two 
trees,  no  two  leaves,  no  two  anythings  that  are 
alike?  Infinite  diversity  is  the  law.  Religion 
tries  to  force  all  minds  into  one  mould.  Knowing 
that  all  cannot  believe,  the  Church  endeavors  to 
make  all  say  they  believe.  She  longs  for  the 
unity  of  hypocrisy,  and  detests  the  splendid  diver- 
sity of  individuality  and  freedom. 


INDIVIDUALITY.  181 

Nearly  all  people  stand  in  great  horror  of  an- 
nihilation, and  yet  to  give  up  your  individuality 
is  to  annihilate  yourself.  Mental  slavery  is  men- 
tal death,  and  every  man  who  has  given  up  his 
intellectual  freedom  is  the  living  coffin  of  his  dead 
soul.  In  this  sense,  every  church  is  a  cemetery 
and  every  creed  an  epitaph. 

We  should  all  remember  that  to  be  like  other 
people  is  to  be  unlike  ourselves,  and  that  nothing 
can  be  more  detestable  in  character  than  servile 
imitation.  The  great  trouble  with  imitation  is, 
that  we  are  apt  to  ape  those  who  are  in  reality 
far  below  us.  After  all,  the  poorest  bargain  that 
a  human  being  can  make,  is  to  give  his  individu- 
ality for  what  is  called  respectability. 

There  is  no  saying  more  degrading  than  this: 
"  It  is  better  to  be  the  tail  of  a  lion  than  the  head 
of  a  dog."  It  is  a  responsibility  to  think  and 
act  for  yourself.  Most  people  hate  responsibil- 
ity; therefore  they  join  something  and  become 
the  tail  of  some  lion.  They  say,  "  My  party  can 
act  for  me — my  church  can  do  my  thinking.  It 
is  enough  for  me  to  pay  taxes  and  obey  the  lion 
to  which  I  belong,  without  troubling  myself  about 
the  right,  the  wrong,  or  the  why  or  the  wherefore 


182  INDIVIDUALITY. 

of  anything  whatever."  These  people  are  respect- 
able. They  hate  reformers,  and  dislike  exceed- 
ingly to  have  their  minds  disturbed.  They  regard 
convictions  as  very  disagreeable  things  to  have. 
They  love  forms,  and  enjoy,  beyond  everything 
else,  telling  what  a  splendid  tail  their  lion  has, 
and  what  a  troublesome  dog  their  neighbor  is. 
Besides  this  natural  inclination  to  avoid  personal 
responsibility,  is  and  always  has  been,  the  fact, 
that  every  religionist  has  warned  men  against 
the  presumption  and  wickedness  of  thinking  for 
themselves.  The  reason  has  been  denounced  by 
all*  Christendom  as  the  only  unsafe  guide.  The 
Church  has  left  nothing  undone  to  prevent  man 
following  the  logic  of  his  .brain.  The  plainest 
facts  have  been  covered  with  the  mantle  of  mys- 
tery. The  grossest  absurdities  have  been  de- 
clared to  be  self-evident  facts.  The  order  of  na- 
ture has  been,  as  it  were,  reversed,  that  the  hypo- 
critical few  might  govern  the  honest  many.  The 
man  who  stood  by  the  conclusion  of  his  reason 
was  denounced  as  a  scorner  and  hater  of  God 
and  his  holy  Church.  From  the  organization  of 
the  first  Church  until  this  moment,  to  think  your 
own  thoughts    has    been    inconsistent    with    mem- 


INDIVIDUALITY.  183 

bership.  Every  member  has  borne  the  marks  of 
collar,  and  chain,  and  whip.  No  man  ever  seri- 
ously attempted  to  reform  a  Church  without  being 
cast  out  and  hunted  down  by  the  hounds  of  hy- 
pocrisy. The  highest  crime  against  a  creed  is  to 
change  it.     Reformation  is  treason. 

Thousands  of  young  men  are  being  educated 
at  this  moment  by  the  various  Churches.  What 
for?  In  order  that  they  may  be  prepared  to  in- 
vestigate the  phenomena  by  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded ?  No!  The  object,  and  the  only  object, 
is  that  they  may  be  prepared  to  defend  a  creed  ; 
that  they  may  learn  the  arguments  of  their  re- 
spective churches,  and  repeat  them  in  the  dull 
ears  of  a  thoughtless  congregation.  If  one,  after 
being  thus  trained  at  the  expense  of  the  Meth- 
odists, turns  Presbyterian  or  Baptist,  he  is  de- 
nounced as  an  ungrateful  wretch.  Honest  inves- 
tigation  is  utterly  impossible  within  the  pale  of 
any  Church,  for  the  reason,  that  if  you  think  the 
Church  is  right  you  will  not  investigate,  and  if 
you  think  it  wrong,  the  Church  will  investigate 
you.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  most  of 
the  theological  literature  is  the  result  of  sup- 
pression, of  fear,  tyranny  and  hypocrisy. 


184  INDIVID  UALITY. 

Every  orthodox  writer  necessarily  said  to  him- 
self, "  If  I  write  that,  my  wife  and  children  may 
want  for  bread.  I  will  be  covered  with  shame 
and  branded  with  infamy ;  but  if  I  write  this,  I 
will  gain  position,  power,  and  honor.  My  Church 
rewards  defenders,  and  burns  reformers." 

Under  these  conditions  all  your  Scotts,  Hen- 
rys, and  Mc Knights  have  written  ;  and  weighed 
in  these  scales,  what  are  their  commentaries 
worth  ?  They  are  not  the  ideas  and  decisions  of 
honest  judges,  but  the  sophisms  of  the  paid  at- 
torneys of  superstition.  Who  can  tell  what  the 
world  has  lost  by  this  infamous  system  of  sup- 
pression? How  many  grand  thinkers  have  died 
with  the  mailed  hand  of  superstition  upon  their 
lips?  How  many  splendid  ideas  have  perished 
in  the  cradle  of  the  brain,  strangled  in  the  poi- 
son-coils of  that  python,  the  Church  ! 

For  thousands  of  years  a  thinker  was  hunted 
down  like  an  escaped  convict.  To  him  who  had 
braved  the  Church,  every  door  was  shut,  every 
knife  was  open.  To  shelter  him  from  the  wild 
storm,  to  give  him  a  crust  when  dying,  to  put  a 
cup  of  water  to  his  cracked  and  bleeding  lips  ; 
these    were    all    crimes,  not    one    of    which    the 


INDIVIDUALITY.  185 

Church  ever  did  forgive;  and  with  the  justice 
taught  of  her  God,  his  helpless  children  were  ex- 
terminated as  scorpions  and  vipers. 

Who  at  the  present  day  can  imagine  the 
courage,  the  devotion  to  principle,  the  intellectual 
and  moral  grandeur  it  once  required  to  be  an  in- 
fidel, to  brave  the  Church,  her  racks,  her  fagots, 
her  dungeons,  her  tongues  of  fire,  —  to  defy  and 
scorn  her  heaven  and  her  hell  —  her  devil  and  her 
God  ?  They  were  the  noblest  sons  of  earth. 
They  were  the  real  saviors  of  our  race,  the  de- 
stroyers of  superstition  and  the  creators  of  Sci- 
ence. They  were  the  real  Titans  who  bared  their 
grand  foreheads  to  all  the  thunderbolts  of  all  the 
gods. 

The  Church  has  been,  and  still  is,  the  great 
robber.  She  has  rifled  not  only  the  pockets  but 
the  brains  of  the  world.  She  is  the  stone  at  the 
sepulchre  of  liberty ;  the  upas  tree,  in  whose 
shade  the  intellect  of  man  has  withered ;  the  Gor- 
gon beneath  whose  gaze  the  human  heart  has 
turned  to  stone.  Under  her  influence  even  the 
Protestant  mother  expects  to  be  happy  in  heaven, 
while  her  brave  boy,  who  fell  fighting  for  the 
rights  of   man,  shall  writhe  in  hell. 


186  INDIVIDUALITY. 

It  is  said  that  some  of  the  Indian  tribes  place 
the  heads  of  their  children  between  pieces  of 
bark  until  the  form  of  the  skull  is  permanently 
changed.  To  us  this  seems  a  most  shocking 
custom  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  is  it  as  bad  as  to  put 
the  souls  of  our  children  in  the  strait-jacket  of  a 
creed  ?  to  so  utterly  deform  their  minds  that  they 
regard  the  God  of  the  bible  as  a  being  of  infinite 
mercy,  and  really  consider  it  a  virtue  to  believe  a 
thing  just  because  it  seems  unreasonable?  Every 
child  in  the  Christian  world  has  uttered  its  won- 
dering protest  against  this  outrage.  All  the 
machinery  of  the  Church  is  constantly  employed 
in  corrupting  the  reason  of  children.  In  every  pos- 
sible way  they  are  robbed  of  their  own  thoughts 
and  forced  to  accept  the  statements  of  others. 
Every  Sunday  school  has  for  its  object  the 
crushing  out  of  every  germ  of  individuality.  The 
poor  children  are  taught  that  nothing  can  be 
more  acceptable  to  God  than  unreasoning  obe- 
dience and  eyeless  faith,  and  that  to  believe  God 
did  an  impossible  act,  is  far  better  than  to 
do  a  good  one  yourself.  They  are  told  that  all 
religions  have  been  simply  the  John-the-Bap- 
tists  of  ours  ;  that  all  the  gods  of  antiquity  have 


INDIVIDUALITY.  187 

withered  and  shrunken  into  the  Jehovah  of  the 
Jews  ;  that  all  the  longings  and  aspirations  of 
the  race  are  realized  in  the  motto  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  "  Liberty  in  non-essentials ;"  that 
all  there  is,  or  ever  was,  of  religion  can  be  found 
in  the  apostles'  creed ;  that  there  is  nothing  left 
to  be  discovered  ;  that  all  the  thinkers  are  dead, 
and  all  the  living  should  simply  be  believers  ;  that 
we  have  only  to  repeat  the  epitaph  found  on  the 
grave  of  wisdom  ;  that  grave-yards  are  the  best 
possible  universities,  and  that  the  children  must 
be  forever  beaten  with  the  bones  of  the  fathers. 

It  has  always  seemed  absurd  to  suppose  that 
a  god  would  choose  for  his  companions,  during  all 
eternity,  the  dear  souls  whose  highest  and  only 
ambition  is  to  obey.  He  certainly  would  now  and 
then  be  tempted  to  make  the  same  remark  made 
by  an  English  gentleman  to  his  poor  guest.  The 
gentleman  had  invited  a  man  in  humble  circum- 
stances to  dine  with  him.  The  man  was  so  over- 
come with  the  honor  that  to  everything  the 
gentleman  said  he  replied  "  Yes."  Tired  at  last 
with  the  monotony  of  acquiescence,  the  gentle- 
man cried  out,  "  For  God's  sake,  my  good  man, 
say  '  No,' just  once,  so  there  will  be  two  of  us." 


188  INDIVIDUALITY. 

Is  it  possible  that  an  infinite  God  created  this 
world  simply  to  be  the  dwelling-place  of  slaves 
and  serfs  ?  simply  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
orthodox  Christians  ?  That  he  did  a  few  miracles 
to  astonish  them ;  that  all  the  evils  of  life  are 
simply  his  punishments,  and  that  he  is  finally 
going  to  turn  heaven  into  a  kind  of  religious 
museum  filled  with  Baptist  barnacles,  petrified 
Presbyterians  and  Methodist  mummies  ?  I  want 
no  heaven  for  which  I  must  give  my  reason  ;  no 
happiness  in  exchange  for  my  liberty,  and  no 
immortality  that  demands  the  surrender  of  my 
individuality.  Better  rot  in  the  windowless  tomb, 
to  which  there  is  no  door  but  the  red  mouth  of 
the  pallid  worm,  than  wear  the  jeweled  collar 
even  of  a  god. 

Religion  does  not,  and  cannot,  contemplate 
man  as  free.  She  accepts  only  the  homage  of  the 
prostrate,  and  scorns  the  offerings  of  those  who 
stand  erect.  She  cannot  tolerate  the  liberty  of 
thought.  The  wide  and  sunny  fields  belong  not 
to  her  domain.  The  star-lit  heights  of  genius 
and  individuality  are  above  and  beyond  her 
appreciation  and  power.  Her  subjects  cringe  at 
her    feet,   covered    with    the    dust   of    obedience. 


INDIVID  UALIT  Y.  189 


They  are  not  athletes  standing  posed  by  rich  life 
and  brave  endeavor  like  antique  statues,  but 
shriveled  deformities,  studying  with  furtive  glance 
the  cruel  face  of  power. 

No  religionist  seems  capable  of  comprehending 
this  plain  truth.  There  is  this  difference  between 
thought  and  action  :  for  our  actions  we  are  re- 
sponsible  to  ourselves  and  to  those  injuriously 
affected ;  for  thoughts,  there  can,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  be  no  responsibility  to  gods  or  men,  here 
or  hereafter.  And  yet  the  Protestant  has  vied 
with  the  Catholic  in  denouncing  freedom  of 
thought ;  and  while  I  was  taught  to  hate  Cathol- 
icism with  every  drop  of  my  blood,  it  is  only 
justice  to  say,  that  in  all  essential  particulars  it 
is  precisely  the  same  as  every  other  religion. 
Luther  denounced  mental  liberty  with  all  the 
coarse  and  brutal  vigor  of  his  nature;  Calvin 
despised,  from  the  very  bottom  of  his  petrified 
heart,  anything  that  even  looked  like  religious 
toleration,  and  solemnly  declared  that  to  ad- 
vocate it  was  to  crucify  Christ  afresh.  All  the 
founders  of  all  the  orthodox  churches  have  ad- 
vocated the  same  infamous  tenet.  The  truth  is, 
that  what  is  called  religion  is  necessarily  in- 
consistent with  free  thought. 


190  INDIVIDUALITY. 


A  believer  is  a  bird  in   a  cage,  a   free-thinker 
is  an  eagle  parting  the  clouds  with  tireless  wing. 

At  present,  owing  to  the  inroads  that  have 
been  made  by  liberals  and  infidels,  most  of  the 
churches  pretend  to  be  in  favor  of  religious 
liberty.  Of  these  churches,  we  will  ask  this 
question  :  How  can  a  man,  who  conscientiously 
believes  in  religious  liberty,  worship  a  God  who 
does  not  ?  They  say  to  us :  "We  will  not  im- 
prison you  on  account  of  your  belief,  but  our 
God  will."  "  We  will  not  burn  you  because  you 
throw  away  the  sacred  scriptures,  but  their  author 
will."  "  We  think  it  an  infamous  crime  to  per- 
secute our  brethren  for  opinion's  sake,  —  but  the 
God,  whom  we  ignorantly  worship,  will  on  that 
account,  damn  his  own  children  forever." 

Why  is  it  that  these  Christians  not  only  detest 
the  infidels,  but  cordially  despise  each  other? 
Why  do  they  refuse  to  worship  in  the  temples  of 
each  other  ?  Why  do  they  care  so  little  for  the 
damnation  of  men,  and  so  much  for  the  baptism 
of  children  ?  Why  will  they  adorn  their  churches 
with  the  money  of  thieves  and  flatter  vice  for 
the  sake  of  subscriptions?  Why  will  they  at- 
tempt to  bribe  Science  to  certify  to   the  writings 


INDIVIDUALITY.  191 


of  God  ?  Why  do  they  torture  the  words  of  the 
great  into  an  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity?  Why  do  they  stand  with  hat  in 
hand  before  presidents,  kings,  emperors,  and 
scientists,  begging,  like  Lazarus,  for  a  few  crumbs 
of  religious  comfort  ?  Why  are  they  so  delighted 
to  find  an  allusion  to  Providence  in  the  message 
of  Lincoln  ?  Why  are  they  so  afraid  that  some 
one  will  find  out  that  Paley  wrote  an  essay  in 
favor  of  the  Epicurean  philosophy,  and  that  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  was  once  an  infidel  ?  Why  are 
they  so  anxious  to  show  that  Voltaire  recanted ; 
that  Paine  died  palsied  with  fear ;  that  the 
Emperor  Julian  cried  out  "  Galilean,  thou  hast 
conquered";  that  Gibbon  died  a  Catholic;  that 
Agassiz  had  a  little  confidence  in  Moses ;  that 
the  old  Napoleon  was  once  complimentary  enough 
to  say  that  he  thought  Christ  greater  than  him- 
self or  Caesar;  that  Washington  was  caught  on 
his  knees  at  Valley  Forge  ;  that  blunt  old  Ethan 
Allen  .told  his  child  to  believe  the  relio-ion  of 
her  mother ;  that  Franklin  said,  "  Don't  unchain 
the  tiger,"  and  that  Volney  got  frightened  in  a 
storm  at  sea  ? 

Is   it  because   the  foundation  of   their  temple 
is   crumbling,  because   the  walls   are  cracked,   the 


192  INDIVIDUALITY. 


pillars  leaning,  the  great  dome  swaying  to  its  fall, 
and  because  Science  has  written  over  the  high 
altar  its  mene,  mene,  tekel,  upharsin  —  the  old 
words,  destined  to  be  the  epitaph  of  all  relig- 
ions ? 

Every  assertion  of  individual  independence  has 
been  a  step  toward  infidelity.  Luther  started 
toward  Humboldt, — Wesley,  toward  John  Stuart 
Mill.  To  really  reform  the  Church  is  to  destroy 
it.  Every  new  religion  has  a  little  less  supersti- 
tion than  the  old,  so  that  the  religion  of  Science 
is  but  a  question  of  time 

I  will  not  say  the  Church  has  been  an  unmiti- 
gated evil  in  all  respects.  Its  history  is  infamous 
and  glorious.  It  has  delighted  in  the  production 
of  extremes.  It  has  furnished  murderers  for  its 
own  martyrs.  It  has  sometimes  fed  the  body,  but 
has  always  starved  the  soul.  It  has  been  a  char- 
itable highwayman  —  a  profligate  beggar — a  gen- 
erous pirate.  It  has  produced  some  angels  and 
a  multitude  of  devils.  It  has  built  more  prisons 
than  asylums.  It  made  a  hundred  orphans  while 
it  cared  for  one.  In  one  hand  it  has  carried 
the  alms-dish  and  in  the  other  a  sword.  It 
has  founded  schools  and  endowed  universities  for 


INDIVIDUALITY.  193 


the  purpose  of  destroying  true  learning.  It  filled 
the  world  with  hypocrites  and  zealots,  and  upon 
the  cross  of  its  own  Christ  it  crucified  the  indi- 
viduality of  man.  It  has  sought  to  destroy  the 
independence  of  the  soul  and  put  the  world  upon 
its  knees.  This  is  its  crime.  The  commission  of 
this  crime  was  necessary  to  its  existence.  In  or- 
der to  compel  obedience  it  declared  that  it  had 
the  truth,  and  all  the  truth;  that  God  had  made 
it  the  keeper  of  his  secrets ;  his  agent  and  his 
vicegerent.  It  declared  that  all  other  religions 
were  false  and  infamous.  It  rendered  all  com- 
promise impossible  and  all  thought  superfluous. 
Thought  was  its  enemy,  obedience  was  its  friend. 
Investigation  was  fraught  with  danger ;  therefore 
investigation  was  suppressed.  The  holy  of  holies 
was  behind  the  curtain.  All  this  was  upon  the 
principle  that  forgers  hate  to  have  the  signature 
examined  by  an  expert,  and  that  imposture  de- 
tests curiosity. 

"He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear" 
has  always  been  the  favorite  text  of  the  Church. 

In  short,  Christianity  has  always  opposed 
every  forward  movement  of  the  human  race. 
Across  the  highway  of  progress  it  has  always 
13 


194  INDIVIDUALITY. 

been  building  breastworks  of  bibles,  tracts,  com- 
mentaries, prayer-books,  creeds,  dogmas  and  plat- 
forms, and  at  every  advance  the  Christians  have 
gathered  together  behind  these  heaps  of  rubbish 
and  shot  the  poisoned  arrows  of  malice  at  the 
soldiers  of  freedom. 

And  even  the  liberal  Christian  of  to-day  has 
his  holy  of  holies,  and  in  the  niche  of  the  temple 
of  his  heart  has  his  idol.  He  still  clings  to  a 
part  of  the  old  superstition,  and  all  the  pleasant 
memories  of  the  old  belief  linger  in  the  horizon 
of  his  thoughts  like  a  sunset.  We  associate  the 
memory  of  those  we  love  with  the  religion  of 
our  childhood.  It  seems  almost  a  sacrilege  to 
rudely  destroy  the  idols  that  our  fathers  wor- 
shiped, and  turn  their  sacred  and  beautiful  truths 
into  the  fables  of  barbarism.  Some  throw  away 
the  Old  Testament  and  cling  to  the  New,  while 
others  give  up  everything  except  the  idea  that 
there  is  a  personal  God,  and  that  in  some  won- 
derful way  we  are  the  objects  of  his  care. 

Even  this,  in  my  opinion,  as  Science,  the  great 
iconoclast,  marches  onward,  will  have  to  be  aban- 
doned with  the  rest.  The  great  ghost  will  surely 
share  the  fate   of  the    little    ones.     They  fled    at 


INDIVIDUALITY.  195 

the  first  appearance  of  the  dawn,  and  the  other 
will  vanish  with  the  perfect  day.  Until  then  the 
independence  of  man  is  little  more  than  a 
dream.  Overshadowed  by  an  immense  person- 
ality, in  the  presence  of  the  irresponsible  and 
the  infinite,  the  individuality  of  man  is  lost,  and 
he  falls  prostrate  in  the  very  dust  of  fear.  Be- 
neath the  frown  of  the  absolute,  man  stands  a 
wretched,  trembling  slave,  —  beneath  his  smile  he 
is  at  best  only  a  fortunate  serf.  Governed  by  a 
being  whose  arbitrary  will  is  law,  chained  to  the 
chariot  of  power,  his  destiny  rests  in  the  pleasure 
of  the  unknown.  Under  these  circumstances, 
what  wretched  object  can  he  have  in  lengthening 
out  his  aimless  life  ? 

And  yet,  in  most  minds,  there  is  a  vague  fear 
of  the  eods  —  a  shrinking  from  the  malice  of  the 
skies.  Our  fathers  were  slaves,  and  nearly  all 
their  children  are  mental  serfs.  The  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  soul  is  a  slow  and  painful  process. 
Superstition,  the  mother  of  those  hideous  twins, 
Fear  and  Faith,  from  her  throne  of  skulls,  still 
rules  the  world,  and  will  until  the  mind  of  woman 
ceases  to  be  the  property  of  priests. 


196  INDIVIDUALITY. 

When  women  reason,  and  babes  sit  in  the  lap 
of  philosophy,  the  victory  of  reason  over  the 
shadowy  host  of  darkness  will  be  complete. 

In  the  minds  of  many,  long  after  the  intellect 
has  thrown  aside  as  utterly  fabulous  the  legends 
of  the  Church,  there  still  remains  a  lingering 
suspicion,  born  of  the  mental  habits  contracted 
in  childhood,  that  after  all  there  may  be  a  grain 
of  truth  in  these  mountains  of  theological  mist, 
and  that  possibly  the  superstitious  side  is  the 
side  of  safety. 

A  gentleman,  walking  among  the  ruins  of 
Athens,  came  upon  a  fallen  statue  of  Jupiter; 
making  an  exceedingly  low  bow  he  said:  "O  Ju- 
piter! I  salute  thee."  He  then  added:  "Should 
you  ever  sit  upon  the  throne  of  heaven  again, 
do  not,  I  pray  you,  forget  that  I  treated  you  po- 
litely when  you  were  prostrate." 

We  have  all  been  taught  by  the  Church  that 
nothing  is  so  well  calculated  to  excite  the  ire  of 
the  Deity  as  to  express  a  doubt  as  to  his  exist- 
ence, and  that  to  deny  it  is  an  unpardonable  sin. 
Numerous  well-attested  instances  are  referred  to 
of  atheists  being  struck  dead  for  denying  the 
existence  of  God.     According    to   these    religious 


INDIVIDUALITY.  197 

people,  God  is  infinitely  above  us  in  every  respect, 
infinitely  merciful,  and  yet  he  cannot  bear  to  hear 
a  poor  finite  man  honestly  question  his  existence. 
Knowing,  as  he  does,  that  his  children  are  groping 
in  darkness  and  struggling  with  doubt  and  fear; 
knowing  that  he  could  enlighten  them  if  he  would, 
he  still  holds  the  expression  of  a  sincere  doubt 
as  to  his  existence,  the  most  infamous  of  crimes. 
According  to  orthodox  logic,  God  having  fur- 
nished us  with  imperfect  minds,  has  a  right  to 
demand  a  perfect  result. 

Suppose  Mr.  Smith  should  overhear  a  couple 
of  small  bu£s  holding  a  discussion  as  to  the  ex- 
istence  of  Mr.  Smith,  and  suppose  one  should 
have  the  temerity  to  declare,  upon  the  honor  of 
a  bug,  that  he  had  examined  the  whole  question 
to  the  best  of  his  ability,  including  the  argument 
based  upon  design,  and  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  no  man  by  the  name  of  Smith  had 
ever  lived.  Think  then  of  Mr.  Smith  flying  into 
an  ecstacy  of  rage,  crushing  the  atheist  bug  be- 
neath his  iron  heel,  while  he  exclaimed,  "  I  will 
teach  you,  blasphemous  wretch,  that  Smith  is  a 
diabolical  fact!"  What  then  can  we  think  of  a 
God    who   would    open    the   artillery    of    heaven 


198  INDIVIDUALITY. 

upon  one  of  his  own  children  for  simply  express- 
ing his  honest  thought  ?  And  what  man  who 
really  thinks  can  help  repeating  the  words  of 
Ennius :  "  If  there  are  gods  they  certainly  pay 
no  attention  to  the  affairs  of  man." 

Think  of  the  millions  of  men  and  women  who 
have  been  destroyed  simply  for  loving  and  wor- 
shiping this  God.  Is  it  possible  that  this  God, 
having  infinite  power,  saw  his  loving  and  heroic 
children  languishing  in  the  darkness  of  dungeons; 
heard  the  clank  of  their  chains  when  they  lifted 
their  hands  to  him  in  the  agony  of  prayer ;  saw 
them  stretched  upon  the  bigots  rack,  where  death 
alone  had  pity ;  saw  the  serpents  of  flame  crawl 
hissing  round  their  shrinking  forms  —  saw  all  this 
for  sixteen  hundred  years,  and  sat  as  silent  as  a 
stone  ? 

From  such  a  God,  why  should  man  expect 
assistance?  Why  should  he  waste  his  days  in 
fruitless  prayer?  Why  should  he  fall  upon  his 
knees  and  implore  a  phantom  —  a  phantom  that 
is  deaf,  and  dumb,  and  blind  ? 

Although  we  live  in  what  is  called  a  free  gov- 
ernment,—  and  politically  we  are  free,  —  there  is 
but    little    religious    liberty    in    America.     Society 


INDIVIDUALITY.  199 

demands,  either  that  you  belong  to  some  church, 
or  that  you  suppress  your  opinions.  It  is  con- 
tended by  many  that  ours  is  a  Christian  govern- 
ment, founded  upon  the  bible,  and  that  all  who 
look  upon  that  book  as  false  or  foolish  are  de- 
stroying the  foundation  of  our  country.  The 
truth  is,  our  government  is  not  founded  upon  the 
rights  of  gods,  but  upon  the  rights  of  men.  Our 
Constitution  was  framed,  not  to  declare  and  up- 
hold the  deity  of  Christ,  but  the  sacredness  of 
humanity.  Ours  is  the  first  government  made 
by  the  people  and  for  the  people.  It  is  the  only 
nation  with  which  the  gods  have  had  nothing  to 
do.  And  yet  there  are  some  judges  dishonest 
and  cowardly  enough  to  solemnly  decide  that  this 
is  a  Christian  country,  and  that  our  free  institu- 
tions are  based  upon  the  infamous  laws  of  Jeho- 
vah. .Such  judges  are  the  Jeffries  of  the  Church. 
They  believe  that  decisions,  made  by  hirelings  at 
the  bidding  of  kings,  are  binding  upon  man  for- 
ever. They  regard  old  law  as  far  superior  to 
modern  justice.  They  are  what  might  be  called 
orthodox  judges.  They  spend  their  days  in  find- 
ing out,  not  what  ought  to  be,  but  what  has  been. 
With  their  backs  to  the  sunrise  they  worship  the 


200  INDIVIDUALITY. 

night.  There  is  only  one  future  event  with  which 
they  concern  themselves,  and  that  is  their  re* 
election.  No  honest  court  ever  did,  or  ever  will, 
decide  that  our  Constitution  is  Christian.  The 
bible  teaches  that  the  powers  that  be,  are  or- 
dained of  God.  The  bible  teaches  that  God  is 
the  source  of  all  authority,  and  that  all  kings 
have  obtained  their  power  from  him.  Every 
tyrant  has  claimed  to  be  the  agent  of  the  Most 
High.  The  Inquisition  was  founded,  not  in  the 
name  of  man,  but  in  the  name  of  God.  All  the 
governments  of  Europe  recognize  the  greatness 
of  God,  and  the  littleness  of  the  people.  In  all 
ages,  hypocrites,  called  priests,  have  put  crowns 
upon  the  heads  of  thieves,  called  kings 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  announces 
the  sublime  truth,  that  all  power  comes  from  the 
people.  This  was  a  denial,  and  the  first  denial  of 
a  nation,  of  the  infamous  dogma  that  God  confers 
the  right  upon  one  man  to  govern  others.  It  was 
the  first  grand  assertion  of  the  dignity  of  the  hu- 
man race.  It  declared  the  governed  to  be  the 
source  of  power,  and  in  fact  denied  the  authority 
of  any  and  all  gods.  Through  the  ages  of  slav- 
ery—  through  the  weary  centuries  of  the  lash  and 


INDIVIDUALITY.  201 


chain,  God   was   the    acknowledged    ruler   of   the 
world.     To  enthrone  man,  was  to  dethrone  Him. 

To  Paine,  Jefferson,  and  Franklin,  are  we 
indebted,  more  than  to  all  others,  for  a  human 
government,  and  for  a  Constitution  in  which  no 
God  is  recognized  superior  to  the  legally  expressed 
will  of  the  people. 

They  knew  that  to  put  God  in  the  Consti- 
tution was  to  put  man  out.  They  knew  that  the 
recognition  of  a  Deity  would  be  seized  upon  by 
fanatics  and  zealots  as  a  pretext  for  destroying 
the  liberty  of  thought.  They  knew  the  terrible 
history  of  the  Church  too  well  to  place  in  her 
keeping,  or  in  the  keeping  of  her  God,  the  sacred 
rights  of  man.  They  intended  that  all  should 
have  the  right  to  worship,  or  not  to  worship ;  that 
our  laws  should  make  no  distinction  on  account 
of  creed.  They  intended  to  found  and  frame  a 
government  for  man,  and  for  man  alone.  They 
wished  to  preserve  the  individuality  and  liberty 
of  all;  to  prevent  the  few  from  governing  the 
many,  and  the  many  from  oersecuting  and  de- 
stroying the  few. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion   still    lingers    in    our   laws.     In    many  of   the 


202  INDIVIDUALITY. 

States,  only  those  who  believe  in  the  existence 
of  some  kind  of  God,  are  under  the  protection 
of  the  law. 

The  supreme  court  of  Illinois  decided,  in  the 
year  of  grace  1856,  that  an  unbeliever  in  the  exist- 
ence of  an  intelligent  First  Cause  could  not  be 
allowed  to  testify  in  any  court.  His  wife  and 
children  might  have  been  murdered  before  his 
very  face,  and  yet  in  the  absence  of  other  wit- 
nesses, the  murderer  could  not  have  even  been 
indicted.  The  atheist  was  a  legal  outcast.  To 
him,  Justice  was  not  only  blind,  but  deaf.  He  was 
liable,  like  other  men,  to  support  the  government, 
and  was  forced  to  contribute  his  share  towards 
paying  the  salaries  of  the  very  judges  who  decided 
that  under  no  circumstances  could  his  voice  be 
heard  in  any  court.  This  was  the  law  of  Illinois, 
and  so  remained  until  the  adoption  of  the  new 
Constitution.  By  such  infamous  means  has  the 
Church  endeavored  to  chain  the  human  mind,  and 
protect  the  majesty  of  her  God.  The  fact  is,  we 
have  no  national  religion,  and  no  national  God ; 
but  every  citizen  is  allowed  to  have  a  religion 
and  a  God  of  his  own,  or  to  reject  all  religions 
and  deny  the  existence  of  all  gods.     The  Church, 


INDI VI D  UALITY.  203 

however,  never  has,  and  never  will  understand  and 
appreciate  the  genius  of  our  government. 

Last  year,  in  a  convention  of  Protestant  bigots, 
held  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  public  opinion  in  favor  of  a  religious 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution,  a  reverend 
doctor  of  divinity,  speaking  of  atheists,  said : 
"What  are  the  rights  of  the  atheist?  I  would 
tolerate  him  as  I  would  tolerate  a  poor  lunatic.  I 
would  tolerate  him  as  I  would  tolerate  a  con- 
spirator. He  may  live  and  go  free,  hold  his  lands 
and  enjoy  his  home  —  he  may  even  vote;  but  for 
any  higher  or  more  advanced  citizenship,  he  is,  as 
I  hold,  utterly  disqualified."  These  are  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Church  to-day. 

Give  the  Church  a  place  in  the  Constitution, 
let  her  touch  once  more  the  sword  of  power,  and 
the  priceless  fruit  of  all  the  ages  will  turn  to 
ashes  on  the  lips  of  men. 

In  religious  ideas  and  conceptions  there  has 
been  for  ages  a  slow  and  steady  development.  At 
the  bottom  of  the  ladder  (speaking  of  modern 
times)  is  Catholicism,  and  at  the  top  is  Science. 
The  intermediate  rounds  of  this  ladder  are  occu- 
pied by  the  various  sects,  whose  name  is  legion. 


204  INDIVIDUALITY. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  truth  upon  any  sub- 
ject has  nothing  to  do  with  our  right  to  investigate 
that  subject,  and  express  any  opinion  we  may  form. 
All  that  I  ask,  is  the  same  right  I  freely  accord 
to  all  others. 

A  few  years  ago  a  Methodist  clergyman  took  it 
upon  himself  to  give  me  a  piece  of  friendly  advice. 
"  Although  you  may  disbelieve  the  bible,"  said  he, 
11  you  ought  not  to  say  so.  That,  you  should  keep 
to  yourself." 

"  Do  you  believe  the  bible,"  said  I. 

He  replied,  "  Most  assuredly." 

To  which  I  retorted,  "  Your  answer  conveys  no 
information  to  me.  You  may  be  following  your 
own  advice.  You  told  me  to  suppress  my  opin- 
ions. Of  course  a  man  who  will  advise  others  to 
dissimulate  will  not  always  be  particular  about 
telling  the  truth  himself." 

There  can  be  nothing  more  utterly  subversive 
of  all  that  is  really  valuable  than  the  suppres- 
sion of  honest  thought.  No  man,  worthy  of  the 
form  he  bears,  will  at  the  command  of  Church  or 
State  solemnly  repeat  a  creed  his  reason  scorns. 

It  is  the  duty  of  each  and  everyone  to  maintain 
his  individuality.     "  This  above  all,  to  thine  own- 


INDI VID  UALITY.  205 

self  be  true,  and  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the 
day,  thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man."  It 
is  a  magnificent  thing  to  be  the  sole  proprietor  of 
yourself.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  wake  up  at  night 
and  say,  "  There  is  nobody  in  this  bed."  It  is 
humiliating  to  know  that  your  ideas  are  all  bor- 
rowed; that  you  are  indebted  to  your  memory  for 
your  principles  ;  that  your  religion  is  simply  one  of 
your  habits,  and  that  you  would  have  convictions 
if  they  were  only  contagious.  It  is  mortifying  to 
feel  that  you  belong  to  a  mental  mob  and  cry 
"  crucify  him,"  because  the  others  do ;  that  you 
reap  what  the  great  and  brave  have  sown,  and  that 
you  can  benefit  the  world  only  by  leaving  it. 

Surely  every  human  being  ought  to  attain  to 
the  dignity  of  the  unit.  Surely  it  is  worth  some- 
thing to  be  07te,  and  to  feel  that  the  census  of  the 
universe  would  be  incomplete  without  counting 
you.  Surely  there  is  grandeur  in  knowing  that 
in  the  realm  of  thought,  at  least,  you  are  without 
a  chain  ;  that  you  have  the  right  to  explore  all 
heights  and  all  depths ;  that  there  are  no  walls  nor 
fences,  nor  prohibited  places,  nor  sacred  corners  in 
all  the  vast  expanse  of  thought ;  that  your  intel- 
lect owes  no  allegiance  to  any  being,  human   or 


206  INDIVIDUALITY. 


divine  ;  that  you  hold  all  in  fee  and  upon  no  con- 
dition and  by  no  tenure  whatever ;  that  in  the 
world  of  mind  you  are  relieved  from  all  personal 
dictation,  and  from  the  ignorant  tyranny  of  ma- 
jorities. Surely  it  is  worth  something  to  feel  that 
there  are  no  priests,  no  popes,  no  parties,  no  gov- 
ernments, no  kings,  no  gods,  to  whom  your  intel- 
lect can  be  compelled  to  pay  a  reluctant  homage. 
Surely  it  is  a  joy  to  know  that  all  the  cruel 
ingenuity  of  bigotry  can  devise  no  prison,  no  dun- 
geon, no  cell  in  which  for  one  instant  to  confine  a 
thought ;  that  ideas  cannot  be  dislocated  by  racks, 
nor  crushed  in  iron  boots,  nor  burned  with  fire. 
Surely  it  is  sublime  to  think  that  the  brain  is  a 
castle,  and  that  within  its  curious  bastions  and 
winding  halls  the  soul,  in  spite  of  all  worlds  and 
all  beings,  is  the  supreme  sovereign  of  itself. 


HERETICS  AND   HERESIES 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


Liberty,  a  Word  without  which  all  other  Words  are 

Vain. 

WHOEVER  has  an  opinion  of  his  own,  and 
honestly  expresses  it,  will  be  guilty  of 
heresy.  Heresy  is  what  the  minority  believe ;  it 
is  the  name  given  by  the  powerful  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  weak.  This  word  was  born  of  the  hatred, 
arrogance  and  cruelty  of  those  who  love  their 
enemies,  and  who,  when  smitten  on  one  cheek, 
turn  the  other.  This  word  was  born  of  intel- 
lectual slavery  in  the  feudal  ages  of  thought.  It 
was  an  epithet  used  in  the  place  of  argument. 
From  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era, 
every  art  has  been  exhausted  and  every  conceiv- 
able punishment  inflicted  to  force  all  people  to 
hold  the  same  religious  opinions.  This  effort  was 
born  of  the  idea  that  a  certain  belief  was  neces- 
sary to  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Christ  taught, 
14 


210  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

and  the  Church  still  teaches,  that  unbelief  is  the 
blackest  of  crimes.  God  is  supposed  to  hate  with 
an  infinite  and  implacable  hatred,  every  heretic 
upon  the  earth,  and  the  heretics  who  have  died  are 
supposed  at  this  moment  to  be  suffering  the  ago- 
nies of  the  damned.  The  Church  persecutes  the 
living  and  her  God  burns  the  dead. 

It  is  claimed  that  God  wrote  a  book  called 
the  Bible,  and  it  is  generally  admitted  that  this 
book  is  somewhat  difficult  to  understand.  As 
long  as  the  Church  had  all  the  copies  of  this 
book,  and  the  people  were  not  allowed  to  read 
it,  there  was  comparatively  little  heresy  in  the 
world  ;  but  when  it  was  printed  and  read,  people 
began  honestly  to  differ  as  to  its  meaning.  A 
few  were  independent  and  brave  enough  to  give 
the  world  their  real  thoughts,  and  for  the  ex- 
termination of  these  men  the  Church  used  all 
her  power.  Protestants  and  Catholics  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  work  of  enslaving  the  human 
mind.  For  ages  they  were  rivals  in  the  infamous 
effort  to  rid  the  earth  of  honest  people.  They 
infested  every  country,  every  city,  town,  hamlet 
and  family.  They  appealed  to  the  worst  passions 
of   the  human   heart.     They  sowed  the   seeds   of 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  211 

discord  and  hatred  in  every  land.  Brother  de- 
nounced brother,  wives  informed  against  their 
husbands,  mothers  accused  their  children,  dun- 
geons were  crowded  with  the  innocent ;  the  flesh 
of  the  good  and  true  rotted  in  the  clasp  of 
chains ;  the  flames  devoured  the  heroic,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  most  merciful  God,  his  children 
were  exterminated  with  famine,  sword,  and  fire. 
Over  the  wild  waves  of  battle  rose  and  fell  the 
banner  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  sixteen  hundred 
years  the  robes  of  the  Church  were  red  with 
innocent  blood.  The  ingenuity  of  Christians  was 
exhausted  in"  devising  punishment  severe  enough 
to  be  inflicted  upon  other  Christians  who  honestly 
and  sincerely  differed  with  them  upon  any  point 
whatever. 

Give  any  orthodox  church  the  power,  and 
to-day  they  would  punish  heresy  with  whip,  and 
chain,  and  fire.  As  loner  as  a  church  deems  a 
certain  belief  essential  to  salvation,  just  so  long 
it  will  kill  and  burn  if  it  has  the  power.  Why 
should  the  Church  pity  a  man  whom  her  God 
hates  ?  Why  should  she  show  mercy  to  a  kind 
and  noble  heretic  whom  her  God  will  burn  in 
eternal    fire  ?     Why  should  a  Christian  be  better 


212  HERETICS  AND   HERESIES. 


than  his  God  ?  It  is  impossible  for  the  imagina- 
tion to  conceive  of  a  greater  atrocity  than  has 
been  perpetrated  by  the  Church.  Every  nerve 
in  the  human  body  capable  of  pain  has  been 
sought  out  and  touched   by  the  Church. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  all  churches  have 
persecuted  heretics  to  the  extent  of  their  power. 
Toleration  has  increased  only  when  and  where 
the  power  of  the  church  has  diminished.  From 
Augustine  until  now  the  spirit  of  the  Christians 
has  remained  the  same.  There  has  been  the  same 
intolerance,  the  same  undying  hatred  of  all  who 
think  for  themselves,  and  the  same  determination 
to  crush  out  of  the  human  brain  all  knowledge 
inconsistent   with  an  ignorant  creed. 

Every  church  pretends  that  it  has  a  revelation 
from  God,  and  that  this  revelation  must  be  given 
to  the  people  through  the  Church  ;  that  the  Church 
acts  through  its  priests,  and  that  ordinary  mortals 
must  be  content  with  a  revelation  —  not  from  God 
—  but  from  the  Church.  Had  the  people  submit- 
ted to  this  preposterous  claim,  of  course  there 
could  have  been  but  one  church,  and  that  church 
never  could  have  advanced.  It  might  have  retro- 
graded,   because    it   is   not    necessary   to   think  or 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  213 

investigate  in  order  to  forget.  Without  heresy- 
there  could  have  been  no  progress. 

The  highest  type  of  the  orthodox  Christian 
does  not  forget;  neither  does  he  learn.  He 
neither  advances  nor  recedes.  He  is  a  living  fos- 
sil embedded  in  that  rock  called  faith.  He  makes 
no  effort  to  better  his  condition,  because  all  his 
strength  is  exhausted  in  keeping  other  people 
from  improving  theirs.  The  supreme  desire  of 
his  heart  is  to  force  all  others  to  adopt  his  creed, 
and  in  order  to  accomplish  this  object  he  de- 
nounces free-thinking  as  a  crime,  and  this  crime 
he  calls  heresy.  When  he  had  power,  heresy  was 
the  most  terrible  and  formidable  of  words.  It 
meant  confiscation,  exile,  imprisonment,  torture, 
and  death. 

In  those  days  the  cross  and  rack  wrere  insepa- 
rable companions.  Across  the  open  bible  lay  the 
sword  and  fagot.  Not  content  with  burning  such 
heretics  as  were  alive,  they  even  tried  the  dead,  in 
order  that  the  Church  might  rob  their  wives  and 
children.  The  property  of  all  heretics  was  confis- 
cated, and  on  this  account  they  charged  the  dead 
with  being  heretical  —  indicted,  as  it  were,  their 
dust  —  to  the   end  that  the   Church    might  clutch 


214  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

the  bread  of  orphans.  Learned  divines  discussed 
the  propriety  of  tearing  out  the  tongues  of  here- 
tics before  they  were  burned,  and  the  general 
opinion  was,  that  this  ought  to  be  done  so  that  the 
heretics  should  not  be  able,  by  uttering  blasphe- 
mies, to  shock  the  Christians  who  were  burning 
them.  With  a  mixture  of  ferocity  and  Christian- 
ity, the  priests  insisted  that  heretics  ought  to  be 
burned  at  a  slow  fire,  giving  as  a  reason  that  more 
time  was  given  them  for  repentance. 

No  wonder  that  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  I  came  not 
to  bring  peace,  but  a  sword." 

Every  priest  regarded  himself  as  the  agent  of 
God.  He  answered  all  questions  by  authority, 
and  to  treat  him  with  disrespect  was  an  insult 
offered  to  God.  No  one  was  asked  to  think,  but 
all  were  commanded  to  obey. 

In  1208  the  Inquisition  was  established.  Seven 
years  afterward,  the  fourth  council  of  the  Lateran 
enjoined  all  kings  and  rulers  to  swear  an  oath  that 
they  would  exterminate  heretics  from  their  domin- 
ions. The  sword  of  the  Church  was  unsheathed, 
and  the  world  was  at  the  mercy  of  ignorant  and 
infuriated  priests,  whose  eyes  feasted  upon  the 
agonies    they  inflicted.      Acting,  as  they  believed, 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  215 


or  pretended  to  believe,  under  the  command  of 
God  ;  stimulated  by  the  hope  of  infinite  reward  in 
another  world  —  hating  heretics  with  every  drop 
of  their  bestial  blood  ;  savage  beyond  description ; 
merciless  beyond  conception,  —  these  infamous 
priests,  in  a  kind  of  frenzied  joy,  leaped  upon 
the  helpless  victims  of  their  rage.  They  crushed 
their  bones  in  iron  boots ;  tore  their  quivering  flesh 
with  iron  hooks  and  pincers  ;  cut  off  their  lips  and 
eyelids  ;  pulled  out  their  nails,  and  into  the  bleed- 
ing quick  thrust  needles;  tore  out  their  tongues; 
extinguished  their  eyes;  stretched  them  upon 
racks  ;  flayed  them  alive  ;  crucified  them  with  their 
heads  downward ;  exposed  them  to  wild  beasts ; 
burned  them  at  the  stake ;  mocked  their  cries  and 
groans ;  ravished  their  wives ;  robbed  their  chil- 
dren, and  then  prayed  God  to  finish  the  holy 
work  in  hell. 

Millions  upon  millions  were  sacrificed  upon 
the  altars  of  bigotry.  The  Catholic  burned  the 
Lutheran,  the  Lutheran  burned  the  Catholic,  the 
Episcopalian  tortured  the  Presbyterian,  the  Pres- 
byterian tortured  the  Episcopalian.  Every  de- 
nomination killed  all  it  could  of  every  other;  and 
each  Christian  felt  in  duty  bound  to  exterminate 


216  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


every  other  Christian  who  denied  the  smallest 
fraction  of  his  creed. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  —  that  pious  and 
moral  founder  of  the  apostolic  Episcopal  Church, — 
there  was  passed  by  the  parliament  of  England 
an  act  entitled  "  An  act  for  abolishing  of  diver- 
sity of  opinion."  And  in  this  act  was  set  forth 
what  a  good  Christian  was  obliged  to  believe: 

First,  That  in  the  sacrament  was  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Seco7id,  That  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  in  the  bread,  and  the  blood  and  body 
of  Jesus  Christ  was  in  the  wine. 

Third,  That  priests  should  not  marry. 

Fourth,  That  vows  of  chastity  were  of  per- 
petual obligation. 

Fifth,  That  private  masses  ought  to  be  con- 
tinued ;  and, 

Sixth,  That  auricular  confession  to  a  priest 
must  be  maintained. 

This  creed  was  made  by  law,  in  order  that  all 
men  might  know  just  what  to  believe  by  simply 
reading  the  statute.  The  Church  hated  to  see  the 
people  wearing  out  their  brains  in  thinking  upon 
these  subjects.     It  was  thought  far  better  that  a 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  217 

creed  should  be  made  by  parliament,  so  that  what- 
ever might  be  lacking  in  evidence  might  be  made 

o  o  <-> 

up  in  force.  The  punishment  for  denying  the  first 
article  was  death  by  fire.  For  the  denial  of  any 
other  article,  imprisonment,  and  for  the  second 
offense  —  death. 

Your  attention  is  called  to  these  six  articles, 
established  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  and 
by  the  Church  of  England,  simply  because  not  one 
of  these  articles  is  believed  by  that  church  to-day. 
If  the  law  then  made  by  the  church  could  be 
enforced  now,  every  Episcopalian  would  be  burned 
at  the  stake. 

Similar  laws  were  passed  in  most  Christian 
countries,  as  all  orthodox  churches  firmly  believed 
that  mankind  could  be  legislated  into  heaven. 
According  to  the  creed  of  every  church,  slavery 
leads  to  heaven,  liberty  leads  to  hell.  It  was 
claimed  that  God  had  founded  the  Church,  and 
that  to  deny  the  authority  of  the  Church  was  to  be 
a  traitor  to  God,  and  consequently  an  ally  of  the 
devil.  To  torture  and  destroy  one  of  the  soldiers 
of  Satan  was  a  duty  no  good  Christian  cared  to 
neglect.  Nothing  can  be  sweeter  than  to  earn 
the  gratitude  of  God  by  killing  your  own  enemies. 
Such  a  mingling  of  profit  and  revenge,  of  heaven 


218  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


for  yourself  and  damnation  for  those  you  dislike, 
is  a  temptation  that  your  ordinary  Christian  never 
resists. 

According  to  the  theologians,  God,  the  Father 
of  us  all,  wrote  a  letter  to  his  children.  The  chil- 
dren have  always  differed  somewhat  as  to  the 
meaning  of  this  letter.  In  consequence  of  these 
honest  differences,  these  brothers  began  to  cut  out 
each  other's  hearts.  In  every  land,  where  this  let- 
ter from  God  has  been  read,  the  children  to  whom 
and  for  whom  it  was  written  have  been  filled  with 
hatred  and  malice.  They  have  imprisoned  and 
murdered  each  other,  and  the  wives  and  children 
of  each  other.  In  the  name  of  God  every  possible 
crime  has  been  committed,  every  conceivable  out- 
rage has  been  perpetrated.  Brave  men,  tender  and 
loving  women,  beautiful  girls,  and  prattling  babes 
have  been  exterminated  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ.  For  more  than  fifty  generations  the 
Church  has  carried  the  black  flag.  Her  ven- 
geance has  been  measured  only  by  her  power. 
During  all  these  years  of  infamy  no  heretic  has 
ever  been  forgiven.  With  the  heart  of  a  fiend  she 
has  hated ;  with  the  clutch  of  avarice  she  has 
grasped  ;  with   the  jaws   of  a  dragon  she  has  de- 


HERETICS  AND   HERESIES.  219 


voured  ;  pitiless  as  famine,  merciless  as  fire,  with 
the  conscience  of  a  serpent :  such  is  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  God. 

I  do  not  say,  and  I  do  not  believe,  that  Chris- 
tians are  as  bad  as  their  creeds.  In  spite  of 
Church  and  dogma,  there  have  been  millions  and 
millions  of  men  and  women  true  to  the  loftiest 
and  most  generous  promptings  of  the  human 
heart.  They  have  been  true  to  their  convictions, 
and,  with  a  self-denial  and  fortitude  excelled  by 
none,  have  labored  and  suffered  for  the  salvation 
of  men.  Imbued  with  the  spirit*  of  self-sacrifice, 
believing  that  by  personal  effort  they  could  rescue 
at  least  a  few  souls  from  the  infinite  shadow  of 
hell,  they  have  cheerfully  endured  every  hard- 
ship and  scorned  every  danger.  And  yet,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  they  believed  that  honest 
error  was  a  crime.  They  knew  that  the  bible  so 
declared,  and  they  believed  that  all  unbelievers 
would  be  eternally  lost.  They  believed  that  re- 
ligion was  of  God,  and  all  heresy  of  the  devil. 
They  killed  heretics  in  defense  of  their  own  souls 
and  the  souls  of  their  children.  They  killed  them 
because,  according  to  their  idea,  they  were  the 
enemies  of   God,  and    because    the    bible    teaches 


220  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

that  the  blood  of  the  unbeliever  is  a  most  accept- 
able sacrifice  to  heaven. 

Nature  never  prompted  a  loving  mother  to 
throw  her  child  into  the  Ganges.  Nature  never 
prompted  men  to  exterminate  each  other  for  a 
difference  of  opinion  concerning  the  baptism  of 
infants.  These  crimes  have  been  produced  by 
religions  filled  with  all  that  is  illogical,  cruel  and 
hideous.  These  religions  were  produced  for  the 
most  part  by  ignorance,  tyranny  and  hypocrisy. 
Under  the  impression  that  the  infinite  ruler  and 
creator  of  the  universe  had  commanded  the  de- 
struction of  heretics  and  infidels,  the  Church 
perpetrated  all  these  crimes. 

Men  and  women  have  been  burned  for  think- 
ing there  is  but  one  God;  that  there  was  none; 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  younger  than  God;  that 
God  was  somewhat  older  than  his  son ;  for  in- 
sisting that  good  works  will  save  a  man  without 
faith ;  that  faith  will  do  without  good  works ; 
for  declaring  that  a  sweet  babe  will  not  be  burned 
eternally,  because  its  parents  failed  to  have  its 
head  wet  by  a  priest;  for  speaking  of  God  as 
though  he  had  a  nose;  for  denying  that  Christ 
was  his    own    father ;    for    contending   that    three 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  221 

persons,  rightly  added  together,  make  more  than 
one;  for  believing  in  purgatory;  for  denying  the 
reality  of  hell  ■  for  pretending  that  priests  can 
forgive  sins ;  for  preaching  that  God  is  an  es- 
sence ;  for  denying  that  witches  rode  through  the 
air  on  sticks  ;  for  doubting  the  total  depravity  of 
the  human  heart ;  for  laughing  at  irresistible 
grace,  predestination  and  particular  redemption ; 
for  denying  that  good  bread  could  be  made  of 
the  body  of  a  dead  man  ;  for  pretending  that  the 
pope  was  not  managing  this  world  for  God,  and 
in  the  place  of  God ;  for  disputing  the  efficacy  of  a 
vicarious  atonement;  for  thinking  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  born  like  other  people ;  for  thinking 
that  a  man's  rib  was  hardly  sufficient  to  make  a 
good-sized  woman ;  for  denying  that  God  used 
his  finger  for  a  pen  ;  for  asserting  that  prayers 
are  not  answered,  that  diseases  are  not  sent  to 
punish  unbelief;  for  denying  the  authority  of  the 
bible ;  for  having  a  bible  in  their  possession  ;  for 
attending  mass,  and  for  refusing  to  attend;  for 
wearing  a  surplice;  for  carrying  a  cross,  and  for 
refusing ;  for  being  a  Catholic,  and  for  being  a 
Protestant ;  for  being  an  Episcopalian,  a  Presby- 
terian, a    Baptist,  and    for   being   a    Quaker.      In 


222  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


short,  every  virtue  has  been  a  crime,  and  every 
crime  a  virtue.  The  Church  has  burned  honesty 
and  rewarded  hypocrisy.  And  all  this,  because  it 
was  commanded  by  a  book  —  a  book  that  men 
had  been  taught  implicitly  to  believe,  long  before 
they  knew  one  word  that  was  in  it.  They  had 
been  taught  that  to  doubt  the  truth  of  this  book 
—  to  examine  it,  even  —  was  a  crime  of  such  enor- 
mity that  it  could  not  be  forgiven,  either  in  this 
world   or  in  the  next. 

The  bible  was  the  real  persecutor.  The  bible 
burned  heretics,  built  dungeons,  founded  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  trampled  upon  all  the  liberties  of  men. 
How  long,  O  how  long  will  mankind  worship 
a  book?  How  long  will  they  grovel  in  the  dust 
before  the  ignorant  legends  of  the  barbaric  past  ? 
How  long,  O  how  long  will  they  pursue  phantoms 
in  a  darkness  deeper  than  death  ? 

Unfortunately  for  the  world,  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Gerard  Chauvin  was  married  to  Jeanne  Le- 
franc,  and  still  more  unfortunately  for  the  world, 
the  fruit  of  this  marriage  was  a  son,  called  John 
Chauvin,  who  afterwards  became  famous  as  John 
Calvin,  the  founder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  223 

This  man  forged  five  fetters  for  the  brain. 
These  fetters  he  called  points.  That  is  to  say, 
predestination,  particular  redemption,  total  deprav- 
ity, irresistible  grace,  and  the  perseverance  of 
the  saints.  About  the  neck  of  each  follower  he 
put  a  collar  bristling  with  these  five  iron  points. 
The  presence  of  all  these  points  on  the  collar  is 
still  the  test  of  orthodoxy  in  the  church  he 
founded.  This  man,  when  in  the  flush  of  youth, 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  preacher  in  Geneva. 
He  at  once,  in  union  with  Farel,  drew  up  a  con- 
densed statement  of  the  Presbyterian  doctrine, 
and  all  the  citizens  of  Geneva,  on  pain  of  banish- 
ment, were  compelled  to  take  an  oath  that  they 
believed  this  statement.  Of  this  proceeding  Calvin 
very  innocently  remarked  that  it  produced  great 
satisfaction.  A  man  named  Caroli  had  the  auda- 
city to  dispute  with  Calvin.  For  this  outrage  he 
was   banished. 

To  show  you  what  great  subjects  occupied 
the  attention  of  Calvin,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
state  that  he  furiously  discussed  the  question  as 
to  whether  the  sacramental  bread  should  be  leav- 
ened or  unleavened.  He  drew  up  laws  regulat- 
ing the  cut  of  the  citizens'  clothes,  and  prescribing 


224  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


their  diet,  and  all  those  whose  garments  were  not 
in  the  Calvin  fashion  were  refused  the  sacrament. 
At  last,  the  people  becoming  tired  of  this  petty 
theological  tyranny,  banished  Calvin.  In  a  few 
years,  however,  he  was  recalled  and  received  with 
great  enthusiasm.  After  this  he  was  supreme, 
and  the  will  of  Calvin  became  the  law  of  Geneva. 

Under  his  benign  administration,  James  Gruet 
was  beheaded  because  he  had  written  some  pro- 
fane verses.  The  slightest  word  against  Calvin 
or  his  absurd  doctrines  was  punished  as  a  crime. 

In  1553  a  man  was  tried  at  Vienne  by  the 
Catholic  Church  for  heresy.  He  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  death  by  burning.  It  was 
apparently  his  good  fortune  to  escape.  Pursued 
by  the  sleuth  hounds  of  intolerance  he  fled  to 
Geneva  for  protection.  A  dove  flying  from  hawks, 
sought  safety  in  the  nest  of  a  vulture.  This 
fugitive  from  the  cruelty  of  Rome  asked  shelter 
from  John  Calvin,  who  had  written  a  book  in 
favor  of  religious  toleration.  Servetus  had  for- 
gotten that  this  book  was  written  by  Calvin  when 
in  the  minority;  that  it  was  written  in  weakness 
to  be  forgotten  in  power;  that  it  was  produced 
by  fear  instead  of   principle.     He  did   not   know 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  225 


that  Calvin  had  caused  his  arrest  at  Vienne,  in 
France,  and  had  sent  a  copy  of  his  work,  which 
was  claimed  to  be  blasphemous,  to  the  archbishop. 
He  did  not  then  know  that  the  Protestant  Calvin 
was  acting  as  one  of  the  detectives  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  had  been  instrumental  in 
procuring  his  conviction  for  heresy.  Ignorant  of 
all  this  unspeakable  infamy,  he  put  himself  in 
the  power  of  this  very  Calvin.  The  maker  of 
the  Presbyterian  creed  caused  the  fugitive  Serve- 
tus  to  be  arrested  for  blasphemy.  He  was  tried. 
Calvin  was  his  accuser.  He  was  convicted  and 
condemned  to  death  by  fire.  On  the  morning  of 
the  fatal  day,  Calvin  saw  him,  and  Servetus,  the 
victim,  asked  forgiveness  of  Calvin,  the  mur- 
derer. Servetus  was  bound  to  the  stake,  and 
the  fagots  were  lighted.  The  wind  carried  the 
flames  somewhat  away  from  his  body,  so  that  he 
slowly  roasted  for  hours.  Vainly  he  implored  a 
speedy  death.  At  last  the  flames  climbed  round 
his  form;  through  smoke  and  fire  his  murderers 
saw  a  white  heroic  face.  And  there  they  watched 
until  a  man  became  a  charred  and  shriveled  mass. 
Liberty  was  banished  from  Geneva,  and 
nothing    but    Presbyterianism    was    left.     Honor, 


226  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

justice,  mercy,  reason  and  charity  were  all  exiled; 
but  the  five  points  of  predestination,  particular 
redemption,  irresistible  grace,  total  depravity,  and 
the  certain  perseverance  of  the  saints  remained 
instead. 

Calvin  founded  a  little  theocracy,  modeled 
after  the  Old  Testament,  and  succeeded  in  erect- 
ing the  most  detestable  government  that  ever 
existed,  except  the  one  from  which  it  was  copied. 

Aeainst  all  this  intolerance,  one  man,  a  minis- 
ter,  raised  his  voice.  The  name  of  this  man 
should  never  be  forgotten.  It  was  Castellio. 
This  brave  man  had  the  goodness  and  the  cour- 
age to  declare  the  innocence  of  honest  error. 
He  was  the  first  of  the  so-called  reformers  to 
take  this  noble  ground.  I  wish  I  had  the  genius 
to  pay  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  memory.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  impossible  to  pay  him  a  grander 
compliment  than  to  say,  Castellio  was  in  all 
things  the  opposite  of  Calvin.  To  plead  for  the 
right  of  individual  judgment  was  considered  a 
crime,  and  Castellio  was  driven  from  Geneva  by 
John  Calvin.  By  him  he  was  denounced  as  a 
child  of  the  devil,  as  a  dog  of  Satan,  as  a  beast 
from  hell,  and  as  one  who,  by  this  horrid  blasphemy 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  227 

of  the  innocence  of  honest  error,  crucified  Christ 
afresh,  and  by  him  he  was  pursued  until  rescued 
by  the  hand  of  death. 

Upon  the  name  of  Castellio,  Calvin  heaped 
every  epithet,  until  his  malice  was  nearly  satis- 
fied and  his  imagination  entirely  exhausted.  It 
is  impossible  to  conceive  how  human  nature  can 
become  so  frightfully  perverted  as  to  pursue  a 
fellow  man  with  the  malignity  of  a  fiend,  sim- 
ply because  he  is  good,  just,  and  generous 

Calvin  was  of  a  pallid,  bloodless  complexion, 
thin,  sickly,  irritable,  gloomy,  impatient,  egotistic, 
tyrannical,  heartless,  and  infamous.  He  was  a 
strange  compound  of  revengeful  morality,  malicious 
forgiveness,  ferocious  charity,  egotistic  humility, 
and  a  kind  of  hellish  justice.  In  other  words,  he 
was  as  near  like  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  his  health  permitted. 

The  best  thing,  however,  about  the  Presbyte 
rians  of  Geneva  was,  that  they  denied  the  power 
of  the  Pope,  and  the  best  thing  about  the  Pope 
was,  that  he  was  not  a  Presbyterian. 

The  doctrines  of  Calvin  spread  rapidly,  and 
were  eagerly  accepted  by  multitudes  on  the  contU 
nent;  but  Scotland,  in  a  few  years,  became  the  real 


228  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

fortress  of  Presbyterianism.  The  Scotch  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  the  same  kind  of  theoc- 
racy that  flourished  in  Geneva.  The  clergy 
took  possession  and  control  of  everybody  and 
everything.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
mental  degradation,  the  abject  superstition  of  the 
people  of  Scotland  during  the  reign  of  Presbyte- 
rianism. Heretics  were  hunted  and  devoured  as 
though  they  had  been  wild  beasts.  The  gloomy 
insanity  of  Presbyterianism  took  possession  of  a 
great  majority  of  the  people.  They  regarded 
their  ministers  as  the  Jews  did  Moses  and  Aaron. 
They  believed  that  they  were  the  especial  agents 
of  God,  and  that  whatsoever  they  bound  in 
Scotland  would  be  bound  in  heaven.  There  was 
not  one  particle  of  intellectual  freedom.  No  man 
was  allowed  to  differ  with  the  Church,  or  to 
even  contradict  a  priest.  Had  Presbyterianism 
maintained  its  ascendency,  Scotland  would  have 
been  peopled  by  savages  to-day. 

The  revengeful  spirit  of  Calvin  took  possession 
of  the  Puritans,  and  caused  them  to  redden  the 
soil  of  the  New  World  with  the  brave  blood  of 
honest  men.  Clinging  to  the  five  points  of  Calvin, 
they   too    established   governments   in   accordance 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  229 

with  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament.  They 
too  attached  the  penalty  of  death  to  the  expres- 
sion of  honest  thought.  They  too  believed  their 
church  supreme,  and  exerted  all  their  power  to 
curse  this  continent  with  a  spiritual  despotism  as 
infamous  as  it  was  absurd.  They  believed  with 
Luther  that  universal  toleration  is  universal  error, 
and  universal  error  is  universal  hell.  Toleration 
was  denounced  as  a  crime. 

Fortunately  for  us,  civilization  has  had  a  soften- 
ing effect  even  upon  the  Presbyterian  Church.  To 
the  ennobling  influence  of  the  arts  and  sciences 
the  savage  spirit  of  Calvinism  has,  in  some  slight 
decree,  succumbed.  True,  the  old  creed  remains 
substantially  as  it  was  written,  but  by  a  kind  of 
tacit  understanding  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as 
a  relic  of  the  past.  The  cry  of  '  heresy"  has  been 
growing  fainter  and  fainter,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  ministers  of  that  denomination  have  ventured, 
now  and  then,  to  express  doubts  as  to  the  damna- 
tion of  infants,  and  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity. 
The  fact  is,  the  old  ideas  became  a  little  monoton- 
ous to  the  people.  The  fall  of  man,  the  scheme  of 
redemption  and  irresistible  grace,  began  to  have  a 
familiar  sound.     The  preachers  told  the  old  stories 


230  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 



while  the  congregations  slept.  Some  of  the  minis- 
ters became  tired  of  these  stories  themselves. 
The  five  points  grew  dull,  and  they  felt  that 
nothing  short  of  irresistible  grace  could  bear  this 
endless  repetition.  The  outside  world  was  full  of 
progress,  and  in  every  direction  men  advanced, 
while  this  church,  anchored  to  a  creed,  idly  rotted 
at  the  shore.  Other  denominations,  imbued  some 
little  with  the  spirit  of  investigation,  were  spring- 
ing up  on  every  side,  while  the  old  Presbyterian 
ark  rested  on  the  Ararat  of  the  past,  filled  with 
the  theological  monsters  of  another  age. 

Lured  by  the  splendors  of  the  outer  world, 
tempted  by  the  achievements  of  science,  longing 
to  feel  the  throb  and  beat  of  the  mighty  march 
of  the  human  race,  a  few  of  the  ministers  of  this 
conservative  denomination  were  compelled,  by 
irresistible  sense,  to  say  a  few  words  in  harmony 
with  the  splendid  ideas  of  to-day. 

These  utterances  have  upon  several  occasions 
so  nearly  wakened  some  of  the  members  that,  rub- 
bing their  eyes,  they  have  feebly  inquired  whether 
these  grand  ideas  were  not  somewhat  heretical. 
These  ministers  found  that  just  in  the  proportion 
that  their  orthodoxy  decreased,  their  congregations 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  231 

increased.  Those  who  dealt  in  the  pure  unadul- 
terated article  found  themselves  demonstrating-  the 

o 

five  points  to  a  less  number  of  hearers  than  they 
had  points.  Stung  to  madness  by  this  bitter  truth, 
this  galling  contrast,  this  harassing  fact,  the  really 
orthodox  have  raised  the  cry  of  heresy,  and  expect 
with  this  cry  to  seal  the  lips  of  honest  men.  One 
of  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  and  one  who  has 
been  enjoying  the  luxury  of  a  little  honest  thought, 
and  the  real  rapture  of  expressing  it,  has  already 
been  indicted,  and  is  about  to  be  tried  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Illinois.     He  is  charged  — 

First.  With  having  neglected  to  preach  that 
most  comforting  and  consoling  truth,  the  eternal 
damnation  of  the  soul. 

Surely,  that  man  must  be  a  monster  who  could 
wish  to  blot  this  blessed  doctrine  out  and  rob 
earth's  wretched  children  of  this  blissful  hope  ! 

Who  can  estimate  the  misery  that  has  been 
caused  by  this  most  infamous  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment?  Think  of  the  lives  it  has  blighted  — 
of  the  tears  it  has  caused  —  of  the  agony  it  has 
produced.  Think  of  the  millions  who  have  been 
driven  to  insanity  by  this  most  terrible  of  dogmas. 
This    doctrine  renders  God   the  basest  and    most 


232  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

cruel  being  in  the  universe.  Compared  with  him, 
the  most  frightful  deities  of  the  most  barbarous 
and  degraded  tribes  are  miracles  of  goodness  and 
mercy.  There  is  nothing  more  degrading  than  to 
worship  such  a  god.  Lower  than  this  the  soul  can 
never  sink.  If  the  doctrine  of  eternal  damnation 
is  true,  let  me  share  the  fate  of  the  unconverted ; 
let  me  have  my  portion  in  hell,  rather  than  in 
heaven  with  a  god  infamous  enough  to  inflict 
eternal  misery  upon  any  of  the  sons  of  men. 

Second.  With  having  spoken  a  few  kind  words 
of  Robert  Collyer  and  John  Stuart  Mill. 

I  have  the  honor  of  a  slight  acquaintance  with 
Robert  Collyer.  I  have  read  with  pleasure  some 
of  his  exquisite  productions.  He  has  a  brain  full 
of  the  dawn,  the  head  of  a  philosopher,  the 
imagination  of  a  poet  and  the  sincere  heart  of  a 
child. 

Is  a  minister  to  be  silenced  because  he  speaks 
fairly,  of  a  noble  and  candid  adversary?  Is  it  a 
crime  to  compliment  a  lover  of  justice,  an  advocate 
of  liberty;  one  who  devotes  his  life  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  man,  the  discovery  of  truth,  and  the  pro- 
mulgation of  what  he  believes  to  be  right  ? 

Can  that  tongue  be  palsied  by  a  presbytery 
that  praises  a  self-denying  and  heroic  life  ?     Is  it 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  233 

a  sin  to  speak  a  charitable  word  over  the  grave  of 
John  Stuart  Mill?  Is  it  heretical  to  pay  a  just 
and  graceful  tribute  to  departed  worth?  Must 
the  true  Presbyterian  violate  the  sanctity  of  the 
tomb,  dig  open  the  grave  and  ask  his  God  to  curse 
the  silent  dust?  Is  Presbyterianism  so  narrow 
that  it  conceives  of  no  excellence,  of  no  purity  of 
intention,  of  no  spiritual  and  moral  grandeur  out- 
side of  its  barbaric  creed  ?  Does  it  still  retain 
within  its  stony  heart  all  the  malice  of  its  founder? 
Is  it  still  warming  its  fleshless  hands  at  the  flames 
that  consumed  Servetus  ?  Does  it  still  glory  in 
the  damnation  of  infants,  and  does  it  still  persist 
in  emptying  the  cradle  in  order  that  perdition  may 
be  filled  ?  Is  it  still  starving  the  soul  and  famish- 
ing the  heart?  Is  it  still  trembling  and  shiver- 
ing, crouching  and  crawling  before  its  ignorant 
Confession  of  Faith  ? 

Had  such  men  as  Robert  Collyer  and  John 
Stuart  Mill  been  present  at  the  burning  of  Serve- 
tus,  they  would  have  extinguished  the  flames  with 
their  tears.  Had  the  presbytery  of  Chicago  "been 
there,  they  would  have  quietly  turned  their  backs, 
solemnly  divided  their  coat  tails,  and  warmed 
themselves. 


234  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

Thi7'd.  With  having  spoken  disparagingly  of 
the  doctrine  of  predestination. 

If  there  is  any  dogma  that  ought  to  be  pro- 
tected by  law,  predestination  is  that  doctrine. 
Surely  it  is  a  cheerful,  joyous  thing,  to  one  who  is 
laboring,  struggling,  and  suffering  in  this  weary 
world,  to  think  that  before  he  existed  ;  before  the 
earth  was ;  before  a  star  had  glittered  in  the 
heavens  ;  before  a  ray  of  light  had  left  the  quiver 
of  the  sun,  his  destiny  had  been  irrevocably  fixed, 
and  that  for  an  eternity  before  his  birth  he  had 
been  doomed  to  bear  eternal  pain. 

Fourth.  With  failing  to  preach  the  efficacy  of 
a  "  vicarious  sacrifice." 

Suppose  a  man  had  been  convicted  of  murder, 
and  was  about  to  be  hanged  —  the  governor  acting 
as  the  executioner;  and  suppose  that  just  as  the 
doomed  man  was  about  to  suffer  death  some  one 
in  the  crowd  should  step  forward  and  say,  a  I  am 
willing  to  die  in  the  place  of  that  murderer.  He 
has  a  family,  and  I  have  none."  And  suppose 
further,  that  the  governor  should  reply,  "  Come 
forward,  young  man,  your  offer  is  accepted.  A 
murder  has  been  committed  and  somebody  must 
be  hung,  and  your  death  will  satisfy  the  law  just 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  235 

as  well  as  the  death  of  the  murderer."  What 
would  you  then  think  of  the  doctrine  of  "  vica- 
rious sacrifice?" 

This  doctrine  is  the  consummation  of  two 
outrages  —  forgiving  one  crime  and  committing 
another. 

Fifth.  With  having  inculcated  a  phase  of  the 
doctrine  commonly  known  as  "evolution,"  or  "de- 
velopment." 

The  Church  believes  and  teaches  the  exact 
opposite  of  this  doctrine.  According  to  the 
philosophy  of  theology,  man  has  continued  to 
degenerate  for  six  thousand  years.  To  teach  that 
there  is  that  in  nature  which  impels  to  higher 
forms  and  grander  ends,  is  heresy,  of  course. 
The  Deity  will  damn  Spencer  and  his  "  Evolution," 
Darwin  and  his  "  Origin  of  Species,"  Bastian  and 
his  "Spontaneous  Generation,"  Huxley  and  his 
"  Protoplasm,"  Tyndall  and  his  "  Prayer  Gauge," 
and  will  save  those,  and  those  only,  who  declare 
that  the  universe  has  been  cursed,  from  the 
smallest  atom  to  the  grandest  star ;  that  every- 
thing tends  to  evil  and  to  that  only,  and  that 
the  only  perfect  thing  in  nature  is  the  Presbyte- 
rian Confession  of  Faith. 


236  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

Sixth.  With  having  intimated  that  the  recep- 
tion of  Socrates  and  Penelope  at  heaven's  gate 
was,  to  say  the  least,  a  trifle  more  cordial  than 
that  of  Catharine  II. 

Penelope,  waiting  patiently  and  trustfully  for 
her  lords  return,  delaying  her  suitors,  while  sadly 
weaving  and  unweaving  the  shroud  of  Laertes, 
is  the  most  perfect  type  of  wife  and  woman 
produced  by  the  civilization  of  Greece. 

Socrates,  whose  life  was  above  reproach  and 
whose  death  was  beyond  all  praise,  stands  to-day, 
in  the  estimation  of  every  thoughtful  man,  at 
least  the  peer  of  Christ. 

Catharine  II  assassinated  her  husband.  Step- 
ping upon  his  corpse,  she  mounted  the  throne. 
She  was  the  murderess  of  Prince  Iwan,  grand 
nephew  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  was  imprisoned 
for  eighteen  years,  and  who  during  all  that  time 
saw  the  sky  but  once.  Taken  all  in  all,  Catharine 
was  probably  one  of  the  most  intellectual  beasts 
that  ever  wore  a  crown. 

Catharine,  however,  was  the  head  of  the  Greek 
Church,  Socrates  was  a  heretic  and  Penelope  lived 
and  died  without  having  once  heard  of  "particular 
redemption"  or  of  "irresistible  grace." 


HERETICS  AND   HERESIES.  237 

Seventh,  With  repudiating  the  idea  of  a  "call" 
to  the  ministry,  and  pretending  that  men  were 
"  called "  to  preach  as  they  were  to  the  other 
avocations  of  life. 

If  this  doctrine  is  true,  God,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  is  an  exceedingly  poor  judge  of  human 
nature.  It  is  more  than  a  century  since  a  man  of 
true  genius  has  been  found  in  an  orthodox  pulpit. 
Every  minister  is  heretical  just  to  the  extent  that 
his  intellect  is  above  the  average.  The  Lord 
seems  to  be  satisfied  with  mediocrity ;  but  the 
people  are  not. 

An  old  deacon,  wishing  to  get  rid  of  an  un- 
popular preacher,  advised  him  to  give  up  the 
ministry  and  turn  his  attention  to  something  else. 
The  preacher  replied  that  he  could  not  conscien- 
tiously desert  the  pulpit,  as  he  had  had  a  "  call"  to 
the  ministry.  To  which  the  deacon  replied,  "  That 
may  be  so,  but  its  very  unfortunate  for  you,  that 
when  God  called  you  to  preach,  he  forgot  to  call 
anybody  to  hear  you." 

There  is  nothing  more  stupidly  egotistic  than 
the  claim  of  the  clergy  that  they  are,  in  some 
divine  sense,  set  apart  to  the  service  of  the  Lord ; 
that  they  have  been  chosen,  and  sanctified  ;   that 


238  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

there  is  an  infinite  difference  between  them  and 
persons  employed  in  secular  affairs.  They  teach 
us  that  all  other  professions  must  take  care  of 
themselves ;  that  God  allows  anybody  to  be  a 
doctor,  a  lawyer,  statesman,  soldier,  or  artist ;  that 
the  Motts  and  Coopers  —  the  Mansfields  and 
Marshalls —  the  Wilberforces  and  Sumners  —  the 
Angelos  and  Raphaels,  were  never  honored  by  a 
"  call."  They  chose  their  professions  and  won 
their  laurels  without  the  assistance  of  the  Lord. 
All  these  men  were  left  free  to  follow  their  own 
inclinations,  while  God  was  busily  engaged  select- 
ing and  "calling"  priests,  rectors,  elders,  ministers 
and  exhorters. 

Eighth.  With  having  doubted  that  God  was 
the  author  of  the   109th   Psalm. 

The  portion  of  that  psalm  which  carries  with 
it  the  clearest  and  most  satisfactory  evidences  of 
inspiration,  and  which  has  afforded  almost  unspeak- 
able consolation  to  the  Presbyterian  church,  is  as 
follows : 

Set  thou  a  wicked  man  over  him;  and  let  Satan  stand 
at  his  right  hand. 

When  he  shall  be  judged,  let  him  be  condemned;  and 
let  his  prayer  become  sin. 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  239 

Let  his  days  be  few;  and  let  another  take  his  office. 

Let  his  children  be  fatherless,  and  his  wife  a  widow. 

Let  his  children  be  continually  vagabonds,  and  beg;  let 
them  seek  their  bread  also  out  of  their  desolate  places. 

Let  the  extortioner  catch  all  that  he  hath ;  and  let  the 
strangers  spoil  h's  labor. 

Let  there  be  none  to  extend  mercy  unto  him ;  neither 
let  there  be  any  to  favor  his  fatherless  children. 

Let  his  posterity  be  cut  off:  and  in  the  generation  follow- 
ing let  their  name  be  blotted  out. 

*  ******** 

But  do  thou  for  me,  O  God  the  Lord,  for  Thy  name's 
sake;  because  Thy  mercy  is  good,  deliver  Thou  me.  *  * 
I  will  greatly  praise  the  Lord  with  my  mouth. 

Think  of  a  God  wicked  and  malicious  enough 
to  inspire  this  prayer.  Think  of  one  infamous 
enough  to  answer  it. 

Had  this  inspired  psalm  been  found  in  some 
temple  erected  for  the  worship  of  snakes,  or  in 
the  possession  of  some  cannibal  king,  written  with 
blood  upon  the  dried  skins  of  babes,  there  would 
have  been  a  perfect  harmony  between  its  surround- 
ings and  its  sentiments. 

No  wonder  that  the  author  of  this  inspired 
psalm  coldly  received  Socrates  and  Penelope,  and 
reserved  his  sweetest  smiles  for  Catharine  the 
Second. 


240  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


Ninth.  With  having  said  that  the  battles  in 
which  the  Israelites  engaged,  with  the  approval 
and  command  of  Jehovah,  surpassed  in  cruelty 
those  of  Julius  Caesar. 

Was  it  Julius  Caesar  who  said,  "And  the  Lord 
our  God  delivered  him  before  us ;  and  we  smote 
him,  and  his  sons,  and  all  his  people.  And  we 
took  all  his  cities,  and  utterly  destroyed  the  men, 
and  the  women,  and  the  little  ones,  of  every  city, 
we  left  none  to  remain"? 

Did  Julius  Caesar  send  the  following  report  to 
the  Roman  senate  ?  "  And  we  took  all  his  cities 
at  that  time,  there  was  not  a  city  which  we  took 
not  from  them,  three-score  cities,  all  the  region 
of  Argob,  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.  All 
these  cities  were  fenced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and 
bars ;  beside  unwalled  towns  a  great  many.  And 
we  utterly  destroyed  them,  as  we  did  unto  Sihon, 
king  of  Heshbon,  utterly  destroying  the  men, 
women,  and  children  of  every  city." 

Did  Caesar  take  the  city  of  Jericho  "  and  utterly 
destroy  all  that  was  in  the  city,  both  men  and 
women,  young  and  old"?  Did  he  smite  "all  the 
country  of  the  hills,  and  of  the  south,  and  of  the 
vale,  and  of  the  springs,  and  all  their  kings,  and 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  241 

leave  none  remaining  that  breathed,  as  the  Lord 
God  had  commanded"? 

Search  the  records  of  the  whole  world,  find  out 
the  history  of  every  barbarous  tribe,  and  you  can 
find  no  crime  that  touched  a  lower  depth  of  infamy 
than  those  the  bible's  God  commanded  and  ap- 
proved. For  such  a  God  I  have  no  words  to 
express  my  loathing  and  contempt,  and  all  the 
words  in  all  the  languages  of  man  would  scarcely 
be  sufficient.  Away  with  such  a  God  !  Give  me 
Jupiter  rather,  with  Io  and  Europa,  or  even  Siva 
with  his  skulls  and  snakes. 

Tenth.  With  having  repudiated  the  doctrine 
of  "  total  depravity." 

AVhat  a  precious  doctrine  is  that  of  the  total 
depravity  of  the  human  heart !  How  sweet  it  is 
to  believe  that  the  lives  of  all  the  good  and  great 
were  continual  sins  and  perpetual  crimes  ;  that  the 
love  a  mother  bears  her  child  is,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  a  sin  ;  that  the  gratitude  of  the  natural  heart 
is  simple  meanness ;  that  the  tears  of  pity  are 
impure  ;  that  for  the  unconverted  to  live  and  labor 
for  others  is  an  offense  to  heaven  ;  that  the  noblest 
aspirations  of  the  soul  are  low  and  groveling  in 
the  sight  of  God ;  that  man  should  fall  upon  his 

16 


242  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

knees  and  ask  forgiveness,  simply  for  loving  his 
wife  and  child,  and  that  even  the  act  of  asking 
forgiveness  is  in  fact  a  crime ! 

Surely  it  is  a  kind  of  bliss  to  feel  that  every 
woman  and  child  in  the  wide  world,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  who  believe  the  five  points,  or  some 
other  equally  cruel  creed,  and  such  children  as 
have  been  baptized,  ought  at  this  very  moment 
to  be  dashed  down  to  the  lowest  glowing  gulf 
of  hell. 

Take  from  the  Christian  the  history  of  his  own 
church  —  leave  that  entirely  out  of  the  question — - 
and  he  has  no  argument  left  with  which  to  sub- 
stantiate the  total  depravity  of  man. 

Eleventh.  With  having  doubted  the  "persever- 
ance of  the  saints." 

I  suppose  the  real  meaning  of  this  doctrine  is, 
that  Presbyterians  are  just  as  sure  of  going  to 
heaven  as  all  other  folks  are  of  going  to  hell. 
The  real  idea  being,  that  it  all  depends  upon  the 
will  of  God,  and  not  upon  the  character  of  the 
person  to  be  damned  or  saved  ;  that  God  has  the 
weakness  to  send  Presbyterians  to  Paradise,  and 
the  justice  to  doom  the  rest  of  mankind  to  eternal 
fire. 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  243 


It  is  admitted  that  no  unconverted  brain  can 
see  the  least  particle  of  sense  in  this  doctrine ; 
that  it  is  abhorrent  to  all  who  have  not  been  the 
recipients  of  a  "  new  heart ;"  that  only  the  perfectly 
good  can  justify  the  perfectly  infamous. 

It  is  contended  that  the  saints  do  not  persevere 
of  their  own  free  will  —  that  they  are  entitled  to 
no  credit  for  persevering ;  but  that  God  forces 
them  to  persevere,  while  on  the  other  hand,  every 
crime  is  committed  in  accordance  with  the  secret 
will  of  God,  who  does  all  things  for  his  own 
glory. 

Compared  with  this  doctrine,  there  is  no  other 
idea,  that  has  ever  been  believed  by  man,  that  can 
properly  be  called  absurd.  v 

Twelfth.  With  having  spoken  and  written 
somewhat  lightly  of  the  idea  of  converting  the 
heathen  with  doctrinal  sermons. 

Of  all  the  failures  of  which  we  have  any  his- 
tory or  knowledge,  the  missionary  effort  is  the 
most  conspicuous.  The  whole  question  has  been 
decided  here,  in  our  own  country,  and  conclu- 
sively settled.  We  have  nearly  exterminated  the 
Indians,  but  we  have  converted  none.  From  the 
days  of  John   Eliot  to  the  execution  of  the  last 


244  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

Modoc,  not  one  Indian  has  been  the  subject  of 
irresistible  grace  or  particular  redemption.  The 
few  red  men  who  roam  the  western  wilderness 
have  no  thought  or  care  concerning  the  five 
points  of  Calvin.  They  are  utterly  oblivious 
to  the  great  and  vital  truths  contained  in  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  Saybrook  platform,  and 
the  resolutions  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  No 
Indian  has  ever  scalped  another  on  account  of 
his  religious  belief.  This  of  itself  shows  conclu- 
sively that  the  missionaries  have  had  no  effect. 

Why  should  we  convert  the  heathen  of  China 
and  kill  our  own  ?  Why  should  we  send  mission- 
aries across  the  seas,  and  soldiers  over  the 
plains?  Why  should  we  send  bibles  to  the  east 
and  muskets  to  the  west?  If  it  is  impossible 
to  convert  Indians  who  have  no  religion  of  their 
own ;  no  prejudice  for  or  against  the  "  eternal 
procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  how  can  we  ex- 
pect to  convert  a  heathen  who  has  a  religion ; 
who  has  plenty  of  gods  and  bibles  and  prophets 
and  Christs,  and  who  has  a  religious  literature 
far  grander  than  our  own  ?  Can  we  hope  with 
the  story  of  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den  to  rival  the 
stupendous  miracles  of  India?     Is  there  anything 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  245 

in  our  bible  as  lofty  and  loving  as  the  prayer 
of  the  Buddhist?  Compare  your  "Confession  of 
Faith"  with  the  following:  "Never  will  I  seek 
nor  receive  private  individual  salvation  —  never 
enter  into  final  peace  alone ;  but  forever  and 
everywhere  will  I  live  and  strive  for  the  univer- 
sal redemption  of  every  creature  throughout  all 
worlds.  Until  all  are  delivered,  never  will  I 
leave  the  world  of  sin,  sorrow,  and  struggle,  but 
will  remain  where   I   am." 

Think  of  sending  an  average  Presbyterian  to 
convert  a  man  who  daily  offers  this  tender, 
this  infinitely  generous,  this  incomparable  prayer. 
Think  of  reading  the  109th  Psalm  to  a  heathen 
who  has  a  bible  of  his  own  in  which  is  found 
this  passage  :  "  Blessed  is  that  man  and  beloved 
of  all  the  gods,  who  is  afraid  of  no  man,  and 
of  whom   no  man  is  afraid." 

Why  should  you  read  even  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  a  Hindu,  when  his  own  Chrishna  has 
said,  "  If  a  man  strike  thee,  and  in  striking  drop 
his  staff,  pick  it  up  and  hand  it  to  him  again"? 
Why  send  a  Presbyterian  to  a  Sufi,  who  says, 
44  Better  one  moment  of  silent  contemplation  and 
inward  love,  than  seventy  thousand  years  of  out- 


246  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


ward  worship"?  "Whoso  would  carelessly  tread 
one  worm  that  crawls  on  earth,  that  heartless 
one  is  darkly  alienate  from  God ;  but  he  that, 
living,  embraceth  all  things  in  his  love,  to  live 
with  him  God  bursts  all  bounds  above,  below." 

Why  should  we  endeavor  to  thrust  our  cruel 
and  heartless  theology  upon  one  who  prays  this 
prayer:  "O  God,  show  pity  toward  the  wicked; 
for  on  the  good  thou  hast  already  bestowed  thy 
mercy  by  having  created  them  virtuous"? 

Compare  this  prayer  with  the  curses  and  cruel- 
ties of  the  Old  Testament  —  with  the  infamies 
commanded  and  approved  by  the  being  whom  we 
are  taught  to  worship  as  a  God  —  and  with  the 
following  tender  product  of  Presbyterianism  :  "  It 
may  seem  absurd  to  human  wisdom  that  God 
should  harden,  blind,  and  deliver  up  some  men  to 
a  reprobate  sense;  that  he  should  first  deliver 
them  over  to  evil,  and  then  condemn  them  for  that 
evil  ;  but  the  believing  spiritual  man  sees  no 
absurdity  in  all  this,  knowing  that  God  would  be 
never  a  whit  less  good  even  though  he  should 
destroy  all  men." 

Of  all  the  religions  that  have  been  produced 
by    the    egotism,    the    malice,    the    ignorance    and 


HERETICS  AND   HERESIES.  247 

ambition  of  man,  Presbyterianism  is  the  most 
hideous. 

But  what  shall  I  say  more,  for  the  time  would 
fail  me  to  tell  of  Sabellianism,  of  a  "  Modal 
Trinity,"  and  the  "  Eternal  Procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost"? 

Upon  these  charges,  a  minister  is  to  be  tried, 
here  in  Chicago  ;  in  this  city  of  pluck  and  progress 
—  this  marvel  of  energy  —  this  miracle  of  nerve. 
The  cry  of  "  heresy,"  here,  sounds  like  a  wail  from 
the  dark  ages  —  a  shriek  from  the  inquisition,  or 
a  groan  from  the  grave  of  Calvin. 

Another  effort  is  being  made  to  enslave  a  man. 

It  is  claimed  that  every  member  of  the  church 
has  solemnly  agreed  never  to  outgrow  the  creed  ; 
that  he  has  pledged  himself  to  remain  an  intel- 
lectual dwarf.  Upon  this  condition  the  church 
agrees  to  save  his  soul,  and  he  hands  over  his 
brains  to  bind  the  bargain.  Should  a  fact  be 
found  inconsistent  with  the  creed,  he  binds  him- 
self to  deny  the  fact  and  curse  the  finder.  With 
scraps  of  dogmas  and  crumbs  of  doctrine,  he  agrees 
that  his  soul  shall  be  satisfied  forever.  What  an 
intellectual  feast  the  Confession  of  Faith  must  be ! 
It  reminds  one  of  the  dinner  described  by  Sydney 


248  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 


Smith,  where  everything  was  cold  except  the  water, 
and  everything  sour  except  the  vinegar. 

Every  member  of  a  church  promises  to  remain 
orthodox,  that  is  to  say  —  stationary.  Growth  is 
heresy.  Orthodox  ideas  are  the  feathers  that 
have  been  moulted  by  the  eagle  of  progress. 
They  are  the  dead  leaves  under  the  majestic 
palm,  while  heresy  is  the  bud  and  blossom  at 
the  top. 

Imagine  a  vine  that  grows  at  one  end  and 
decays  at  the  other.  The  end  that  grows  is 
heresy,  the  end  that  rots  is  orthodox.  The  dead 
are  orthodox,  and  your  cemetery  is  the  most  per- 
fect type  of  a  well  regulated  church.  No  thought, 
no  progress,  no  heresy  there.  Slowly  and  silently, 
side  by  side,  the  satisfied  members  peacefully  de- 
cay. There  is  only  this  difference  —  the  dead  do 
not  persecute. 

And  what  does  a  trial  for  heresy  mean  ?  It 
means  that  the  Church  says  to  a  heretic,  "  Be- 
lieve as  I  do,  or  I  will  withdraw  my  support.  I 
will  not  employ  you.  I  will  pursue  you  until 
your  garments  are  rags  ;  until  your  children  cry 
for  bread ;  until  your  cheeks  are  furrowed  with 
tears.     I  will  hunt  you  to  the  very  portals  of  the 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  249 


tomb,  and  then  my  God  will  do  the  rest.  I  will 
not  imprison  you.  I  will  not  burn  you.  The 
law  prevents  my  doing  that.  I  helped  make  the 
law,  not  however  to  protect  you,  nor  to  deprive 
me  of  the  right  to  exterminate  you.  but  in  order 
to    keep  other  churches    from  exterminating   me." 

A  trial  for  heresy  means  that  the  spirit  of 
persecution  still  lingers  in  the  Church ;  that  it 
still  denies  the  right  of  private  judgment ;  that 
it  still  thinks  more  of  creed  than  truth,  and  that 
it  is  still  determined  to  prevent  the  intellectual 
growth  of  man.  It  means  that  churches  are 
shambles  in  which  are  bought  and  sold  the  souls 
of  men.  It  means  that  the  Church  is  still  guilty 
of  the  barbarity  of  opposing  thought  with  force. 
It  means  that  if  it  had  the  power,  the  mental 
horizon  would  be  bounded  by  a  creed ;  that  it 
would  bring  again  the  whips  and  chains  and  dun- 
geon keys,  the  rack  and  fagot  of  the  past. 

But  let  me  tell  the  Church  it  lacks  the  power. 
There  have  been,  and  still  are,  too  many  men 
who  own  themselves — too  much  thought,  too 
much  knowledge  for  the  Church  to  grasp  again 
the  sword  of  power.  The  Church  must  abdicate. 
For  the  Eglon  of  superstition  Science  has  a  mes- 
sage from  Truth. 


250  HERETICS  AND  HERESIES. 

The  heretics  have  not  thought  and  suffered 
and  died  in  vain.  Every  heretic  has  been,  and 
is,  a  ray  of  light.  Not  in  vain  did  Voltaire,  that 
great  man,  point  from  the  foot  of  the  Alps  the 
finger  of  scorn  at  every  hypocrite  in  Europe. 
Not  in  vain  were  the  splendid  utterances  of  the 
infidels,  while  beyond  all  price  are  the  discov- 
eries of  science. 

The  Church  has  impeded,  but  it  has  not  and 
it  cannot  stop  the  onward  march  of  the  human 
race.  Heresy  cannot  be  burned,  nor  imprisoned, 
nor  starved.  It  laughs  at  presbyteries  and  syn- 
ods, at  ecumenical  councils  and  the  impotent 
thunders  of  Sinai.  Heresy  is  the  eternal  dawn, 
the  morning  star,  the  glittering  herald  of  the  day. 
Heresy  is  the  last  and  best  thought.  It  is  the 
perpetual  New  World,  the  unknown  sea,  toward 
which  the  brave  all  sail.  It  is  the  eternal  hori- 
zon of  progress. 

Heresy  extends  the  hospitalities  of  the  brain 
to  a  new  thought. 

Heresy  is  a  cradle ;  orthodoxy,  a  coffin. 

Why  should  man  be  afraid  to  think,  and  why 
should  he  fear  to  express  his  thoughts? 

Is  it  possible  that  an  infinite  Deity  is  unwill- 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  251 


ing  that  a  man  should  investigate  the  phenom- 
ena by  which  he  is  surrounded?  Is  it  possible 
that  a  god  delights  in  threatening  and  terrifying 
men  ?  What  glory,  what  honor  and  renown  a 
god  must  win  on  such  a  field  !  The  ocean  rav- 
ing at  a  drop  ;  a  star  envious  of  a  candle ;  the 
sun  jealous  of  a  fire-fly. 

Go  on,  presbyteries  and  synods,  go  on ! 
Thrust  the  heretics  out  of  the  Church  —  that  is 
to  say,  throw  away  your  brains, —  put  out  your 
eyes.  The  infidels  will  thank  you.  They  are 
willing  to  adopt  your  exiles.  Every  deserter 
from  your  camp  is  a  recruit  for  the  army  of 
progress.  Cling  to  the  ignorant  dogmas  of  the 
past;  read  the  109th  Psalm;  gloat  over  the 
slaughter  of  mothers  and  babes ;  thank  God  for 
total  depravity  ;  shower  your  honors  upon  hypo- 
crites, and  silence  every  minister  who  is  touched 
with  that  heresy  called  genius. 

Be  true  to  your  history.  Turn  out  the  astron- 
omers, the  geologists,  the  naturalists,  the  chemists, 
and  all  the  honest  scientists.  With  a  whip  of 
scorpions,  drive  them  all  out.  We  want  them  all. 
Keep  the  ignorant,  the  superstitious,  the  bigoted, 
and    the    writers    of    charges    and    specifications. 


252  HERETICS  AND   HERESIES. 


Keep  them,  and  keep  them  all.  Repeat  your 
pious  platitudes  in  the  drowsy  ears  of  the  faith- 
ful, and  read  your  bible  to  heretics,  as  kings 
read  some  forgotten  riot-act  to  stop  and  stay 
the  waves  of  revolution.  You  are  too  weak  to 
excite  anger.  We  forgive  your  efforts  as  the  sun 
forgives  a  cloud  —  as  the  air  forgives  the  breath 
you  waste. 

How  long,  O  how  long,  will  man  listen  to  the 
threats  of  God,  and  shut  his  eyes  to  the  splendid 
possibilities  of  Nature?  How  long,  O  how  long 
will  man  remain  the  cringing  slave  of  a  false 
and  cruel  creed  ? 

By  this  time  the  whole  world  should  know 
that  the  real  bible  has  not  yet  been  written,  but 
is  being  written,  and  that  it  will  never  be  fin- 
ished until  the  race  begins  its  downward  march, 
or  ceases  to  exist. 

The  real  bible  is  not  the  work  of  inspired 
men,  nor  prophets,  nor  apostles,  nor  evangelists, 
nor  of  Christs.  Every  man  who  finds  a  fact, 
adds,  as  it  were,  a  word  to  this  great  book. 
It  is  not  attested  by  prophecy,  by  miracles  or 
signs.  It  makes  no  appeal  to  faith,  to  ignorance, 
to  credulity  or  fear.      It   has  no   punishment   for 


HERETICS  AND  HERESIES.  253 

unbelief,  and  no  reward  for  hypocrisy.  It  appeals 
to  man  in  the  name  of  demonstration.  It  has 
nothing  to  conceal.  It  has  no  fear  of  being  read, 
of  being  contradicted,  of  being  investigated  and 
understood.  It  does  not  pretend  to  be  holy,  or 
sacred  ;  it  simply  claims  to  be  true.  It  challenges 
the  scrutiny  of  all,  and  implores  every  reader  to 
verify  every  line  for  himself.  It  is  incapable  of 
being  blasphemed.  This  book  appeals  to  all  the 
surroundings  of  man.  Each  thing  that  exists 
testifies  of  its  perfection.  The  earth,  with  its 
heart  of  fire  and  crowns  of  snow ;  with  its  for- 
ests and  plains,  its  rocks  and  seas ;  with  its 
every  wave  and  cloud ;  with  its  every  leaf  and 
bud  and  flower,  confirms  its  every  word,  and  the 
solemn  stars,  shining  in  the  infinite  abysses,  are 
the  eternal  witnesses  of  its  truth. 


NOW  READY, 


The  Ghosts  &  Other  Lectures 


By  Robert  G.  Ingersoll. 


CONTAINING    HIS    LECTURES    ON 

"The  Ghosts,"  "Liberty  of  Man,  Woman  and  Child,' 
"Centennial  Oration,"  Etc. 


COLONEL   INGERSOLL  ON  "GHOSTS. 


There  was  hardly  standing  room  in  Lincoln  Hall  last  evening  when 
Colonel  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  made  his  appearance  on  the  platform.  The 
audience  was  not  only  one  of  the  largest,  but  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
for  the  number  of  distinguished  people  it  contained,  that  ever  assembled 
in  this  city  to  hear  a  lecture.  The  lecture  on  "Ghosts"  was  fully  equal 
to  Colonel  Ingersoll's  previous  effort  at  the  same  hall.  His  quick  wit, 
terse  logic,  and  epigrammatic  eloquence,  was  very  effective,  and  his  list- 
eners were  kept  laughing  half  the  time  and  applauding  the  rest. — National 
Union,   Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  LIBERTY  OF  MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD. 


An  overflowing  house  received  Col.  Ingersoll  at  National  Guard  Hall, 
last  evening,  and  hung  entranced  upon  his  words,  from  the  commencement 
to  the  close  of  his  incomparable  lecture.  Of  that  lecture  we  can  speak 
only  in  general  terms  to-day.  It  is  a  wonderful  production.  All  the 
beauties  of  the  language;  all  the  enchantment  of  eloquence;  all  the 
splendors  of  imagination,  the  plays  of  wit,  the  eccentricities  of  a  subtle 
genius  are  handled  in  it.  His  appeals  for  liberty  to  man;  for  liberty  and 
protection  to  woman  ;  for  liberty,  protection,  and  kindness  to  children, 
are  as  beautiful  as  anything  in  our  language.  This  might  be  extended 
over  colums,  but  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the  lecture  is  charming  through- 
out, and  its  teachings  are  pure  and  true.  —  Territorial  Enterprise,  Virginia 
City,  Nevada. 

Colonel  Ingersoll  is  probably  the  most  interesting,  popular  and 
effective  free-thinker  and  free-speaker  of  the  day. — Cincinnati  Commercial. 


Address  C.  P.  FARRELL,  Publisher,  Washington,  D.  C. 


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